Mutant Genome Project
by Spirael
Summary: Set in the 2012 universe. In the wake of the defeat of the Kraang, the turtles are seeking to clean up the mess when an accident changes everything and causes strife between the brothers. They need time to reconcile, but their enemies don't rest and are busy creating unsettlingly familiar warriors that hit a little too close to home...
1. Chapter 1: Back to basics

**Introduction**

 _This fanfiction is set in Nickelodeon's 2012 TMNT universe, following the tone, backstory and characterisations portrayed. It picks up midway through season 3 and will branch from canon at that point. No significant OCs are planned._

 _Please note that I am British and my spelling will reflect that. Terminology will on the whole be American, but it is likely that Briticisms may occasionally crop up. New chapters will be posted as often as possible, but please be patient as my free time to write is sparse._

 **Disclaimer**

 _This story is a work of fan fiction and brings me no commercial gain at all. I do not own TMNT, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Splinter, April, Casey, The Shredder, Stockman, Fishface, Rahzar or any other character contained within the series. In fact, by tying them to a fanfiction for TMNT, I don't even own any original characters that may appear. For anyone who enjoys this pastiche for TMNT, I strongly encourage you to purchase the original works on which this is based._

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **Back to basics**

The full moon hung low over New York City and was partly shrouded by darkening clouds. It cast an eerie, dappled glow over the damaged buildings and interdimensional fragments that had been left behind after the invasion of the Kraang. The backstreets were still cluttered with fractured crystals and piles of destroyed robotic bodies, as they'd been pushed back out of the working areas of the city.

A form of uneasy calm had been restored, with the humans back under control of their own affairs and no longer manipulated by the alien creatures. They recalled little of what had transpired or of what remained, barely hidden beneath the surface. During the day they worked laboriously to fix the damage and clear the remnants of battle, but at dusk the rumours of what lurked in the darkness drew them to return to the safety of their homes.

As the evening deepened, the city became quiet and most unlike the festive nocturnal activity that would be expected in any other bustling metropolis across the globe, with revellers taking their celebrations to the small hours. Instead, the streets were only frequented by the clueless, the criminals and, of course, the heroes.

Leaping effortlessly from one rooftop to the next, Leonardo landed neatly and silently. He crouched in the shadows, making use of the mottled camouflage of his shell to hide him from the sight of any casual observer. There he paused for a moment, sensing his surroundings and waiting for the almost unperceivable noise of his three brothers as they also made the jump and landed alongside him.

First was Raphael, his tatty bandanna tails fluttering as he landed into a rolling break fall. He emerged with less stealth but poised ready to fight, sais in hand. When it became apparent there was no immediate enemy he straightened and, throwing a smirk at Leo, started moving again.

"Oh no you don't." Leonardo muttered. If Raph wanted a challenge, he was going to get one.

Hearing the twin thumps of the other two, Michelangelo and Donatello, landing safely nearby left Leo free to lunge forwards. He jumped over an air conditioning unit before swinging upwards to run along a railing, then over a small gap between constructions. With a modicum of stealth sacrificed for speed, he raced Raph along the rooftops.

"No way are you catching me!" Raph goaded, wasting the time to tauntingly somersault from the top of a billboard to the shining sign of the next building.

"I don't need to." mocked Leo, sliding under the sign and emerging victoriously ahead of his competitive brother.

"Guys!" he heard Don protesting from behind, but it lacked the urgency that would have made the others pay enough attention to stop.

An animated cheer from alongside Leo revealed Mikey swinging past, hanging on to the chain of his kusarigama as he swung from the water tower. With a practice flick of his wrist the chain returned, leaving him free to bounce into the lead.

"Eat my dust, dudes!" he yelled, looking back and grinning boyishly.

Leonardo winced as Raph took the opportunity to barrel into Mikey and send him sprawling.

"No fair!" Mikey protested, unhurt but out of the impromptu race as he floundered to roll off his shell and get back to his feet.

"Snooze and lose." Raph called back, before tripping gracelessly over a well-placed bo staff and crashing nose first into the ground.

Donnie straightened, his surprise evident as he failed to take the opportunity to race into the lead and instead stopped to stare at his handiwork.

"Uh…" he started, likely already predicting what was about to happen.

"Go, D! Nice one!" Mikey crowed, but his elation dissipated as Raph jumped back to his feet and whirled round with a growl.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Don protested, raising his hands defensively and backing away towards where Michelangelo stood.

"Happy thoughts, Raph. Happy thoughts!" Mikey cajoled.

"I'll show you my happy thoughts!" Raph threatened, preparing to pounce.

With a sigh, Leo halted from where he'd managed to bound into the lead. Turning, he leapt over to land between the warring factions. "The competition is over, we have work to do."

"Aww, but that means you won!" Mikey protested.

Leo smirked. "Of course."

"Doesn't count." Raph said, folding his arms.

Ignoring him, Leonardo moved over to peer over the edge of the building. "See anything, Donnie?"

"Yeah, as I tried to tell you earlier." Donatello grumbled, pulling down his visor and beginning to scan for mutagenic remnants. "Now where- There!"

He studied for a moment, before lifting the visor and turning back to the others. "Next alleyway along. Looks like mutant rats, probably leftovers from the Rat King."

"So are they rats turned human or humans turned rat?" pondered Mikey, tapping a finger on his chin.

"Does it matter?" Raph asked, snappishly.

"Well, assuming there were no unexpected complexities in their mutations, the retro-mutagen should work either way." Don conjectured. "Although it could present a bit of a moral conundrum over which is the more worthy recipient, as we have limited supply."

Leo glanced over. "I thought we had plenty of retro-mutagen?"

"Thanks to my totally awesome creation!" Mikey chipped in.

"We have a small amount of the reagent remaining, although replicating the compound is proving difficult without the formula. We're missing the substrate required to bring about the chemical reaction necessary in order to produce the—"

"English, Donnie!"

Don scowled at Raph before reducing his statement to, "We're out of mutagen."

Leonardo frowned. "With the Kraang gone, the supply is now limited. Unless there are any Kraathatrogons still around."

"Dude, we totally should have kept one!" Mikey exclaimed.

"You are not having a giant worm as a pet." Raph declared. "Who would look after it? Take it for walks and clean up its mess?"

"Wouldn't the fact that it _eats people_ be a bigger problem?" raised Donnie.

Mikey, oblivious, just beamed happily in his own little world. "I could ride it round the city and teach it to fly! That would be so awesome, dudes."

"Quiet down." Leonardo said, attempting to take control of the situation. "Let's deal with the rats using the remaining retro-mutagen, then tomorrow we'll scour the city for any remaining mutagen canisters. There must be some we've missed."

"Let's go, Turtle Titans!" he called inspirationally as he moved off.

" _Turtle Titans_?" Raph groused. " _Where_ do you come up with these?" But he followed all the same.

Mikey tilted his head thoughtfully. "I kinda like it."

Bounding in the direction where the rats had been sighted, they dropped silently down into the alleyway and drew their weapons in readiness for the impending skirmish. Rooting around in the piled up trash, even in the patchy gloom it was easy to see that the rodents were of unusual size and obviously mutated.

Realising they weren't alone in their foraging any longer, the three mutant rats turned to face the turtles, baring their teeth and pawing at the ground with filthy claws. Their fur was matted and their ribs on prominent display, after what must have been months of fruitless scavenging for food enough to sustain themselves.

Raph smirked. "Only three? This'll barely be a workout."

"We're just trying to subdue them enough to use the retro-mutagen." Leo instructed, but his words fell on deaf ears as the others were already jumping forward into the skirmish.

"Booyakasha!" yelled Mikey, crashing into the nearest rat and sending it flying with a well-timed hit from his nunchaku. It squealed in protest, then grunted as it was landed on moments later by the creatures that Raph and Donnie had ploughed into.

Squeaking furiously, the rats disentangled themselves and scampered towards their foes, jaws snapping together in rage as they tried to rip the turtles apart. Claws scrabbled over shell and tried to get a purchase through the tough flesh of their assailants.

Leo took a graceful swipe at the one aiming for Mikey, deflecting what might have been a painful attack if it had connected, before neatly somersaulting over another that lunged in his direction. With a well-placed landing, the leader of the brothers succeeded in two solid hits across the creature's haunches, provoking the oversized rodent to whirl around and lash out in rage.

"Leo!" Donnie called, using his bo staff to vault over before twisting in the air and bringing the weapon down over the rat's head with a crack. The beast was promptly reduced it to a stunned heap on the floor.

On cue, Leo pulled out the retro-mutagen he was carrying and sprayed the creature right between the eyes. It thrashed wildly for a few seconds, before rapidly shrinking down to the size of a regular rat. It lay there, dazed, for several moments before scurrying for cover.

The two brothers shared a brief high-three before separating to help with the remaining rodents. Leonardo was unsurprised to find Raphael had managed to get hold of his target's tail and was busy swinging the dizzy rat around his head like some corrupted form of the hammer throw.

"Stop playing around, Raph." Leo ordered, leaping up and striking the rat to the ground with a kick. But before they could do anything else, they were distracted by Mikey charging by atop the other mutant rat.

"Ride 'em cowboy!" Mikey hollered, pulling back on the chains he'd wrapped around the creature's snout and causing his unorthodox mount to rear in protest.

"I've got him!" Donnie called, stepping up with his dose of retro-mutagen ready to fire at the creature's exposed belly. Before he got a chance though, the rat whirled round and sent him flying against the wall with a flick of his tail.

Michelangelo then got unceremoniously thrown face first into the ground, as the creature bucked into the air and tossed its rider forwards.

"Wipeouuuut…" Mikey moaned.

Leo grabbed the arm of his youngest turtle and pulled him aside just in time, as Raph launched fury upon the furry animal. As the red clad turtle finished off venting his frustrations, Leo took the retro-mutagen Michelangelo was carrying and used it on the downed rat, reverting it to natural form.

That left just one remaining, which by now had lost the will to fight and was cowering against the wall in resignation. With a flourish, Raph was the one this time to pull out the retro-mutagen and finish the battle, sending the last normal sized rat scurrying into the darkness.

"Aw, no more?" Raph lamented.

"Good job everyone." Leo congratulated, as he helped Mikey back to his feet. "That's three mutant monsters that won't be causing any more trouble."

Mikey grinned playfully. "Now, back to the lair for Crognard the Barbarian and piiizzaaa, dudes!"

"I'm choosing the toppings tonight." Raph demanded, "I've had enough of your weird creations!"

Leonardo hesitated. The night was still young, wasn't there more that could be done? Donnie had mentioned that they were out of mutagen. They'd need to find more, in order to create more retro-mutagen and continue to clean up some of the mutant remnants that had been left behind and were plaguing the city.

"Donnie," Leo started, turning with the intention to ask whether there were any readings of mutagen canisters in the area.

But the original question never got voiced. Instead, it changed to, "Uh, guys? Where's Donnie?"

Raph and Mikey had been arguing over the pizza, but hesitated and both looked around, mirroring the movements Leo had carried out just moments previously. The fruitless result was identical.

"He was right here!" Mikey insisted.

"Donnie?" Raph called, pacing further down the alleyway with sudden urgency before leaping up a nearby fire escape to get a better view. "Donnie!"

Meanwhile, Mikey turned and hurried a few paces towards the street to peer around and look for evidence in that direction.

Leo, pragmatically, pulled out his T-phone and scrolled to call the missing turtle. It dialled and started to ring, which provided some immediate relief. Even if Donnie didn't answer, at least they would be able to track him easily enough as long as his T-phone remained online.

"Wait, wait, I hear something!" Mikey suddenly said, turning around. He prowled forwards, then stopped by the side of a dumpster. There, on the floor, lay not only the vibrating T-phone but also Don's bo-staff, mask, belt and all the other possessions he usually carried.

Michelangelo reached down to pick something up. "Found his T-phone!" he declared, picking up the turtle shell device before peering at it curiously. "Hey, did he change the design? Where's the screen gone?"

Leo terminated the call and headed over, joined seconds later by Raphael as he dropped down beside them.

"What the-?" Raph asked, scooping up Donatello's other possessions. "Did he strip off?"

"For everyone's sake, I hope not." Leo joked.

From the pile in Raph arms, Don's T-phone dropped out and bounced onto the floor with a clatter.

"It must be a secret lockable case, because he totally has something on his T-phone that he doesn't want us to see." grinned Mikey, still prodding roughly at the device in his hands, "I bet it's pictures of April!"

He started to try and peel the two sides apart. "Well that's not going to stop the great turtle detective…"

As one Raphael and Leonardo stared at Michelangelo, glanced at the T-phone on the floor, drifted their gaze over to a broken canister of retro-mutagen, then looked briefly to one another before both suddenly shouting "Mikey!" and diving towards him.

Leonardo, without his arms full, got there first and quickly, but carefully, whipped the turtle from Mikey's hands.

"Oh no…" he murmured, as Raph took the opportunity to smack Mikey across the head.

"Ow!" Mikey protested, "What was that for?"

"That's not his T-phone, you idiot!" Raphael ranted.

"That's Donnie!"


	2. Chapter 2: Like the back of your shell

**CHAPTER 2**

 **Like the back of your shell**

Mikey didn't get it. He stared in confusion at his two brothers, wondering briefly whether this was some kind of joke they were playing on him. But then, Donnie was the smart one and he did build all kinds of things, so…

"Donnie turned himself into a T-phone?" he finally realised, before grinning widely. "That is awesome! What other things can he turn himself into?"

"Ooh, ooh! I want to be an action figure!" he gushed, excitedly. "Can Donnie turn me into an action figure? That would be too cool, dudes! He could make all of us action figures, then we could have these totally epic fights…"

"MIKEY!" Raph bellowed, raising a hand to bat him again. "If you don't shut up I'm going to shove your head out of the wrong end of your shell."

But his target ducked away and crowed gleefully. "Ha! Too slow Raph, dude."

"Enough!" Leo snapped. "Will you both be quiet? This is serious! He must have been hit by the retro-mutagen. He's turned back into a regular turtle!"

"Wha-?" said Mikey, eyes widening as he finally understood the situation. "No! D!"

"How do we change him back?" Raph demanded, his green eyes intense as he stared at the leader.

"I… I don't know!" Leonardo started, helplessly, before turning by habit. "Donnie, what do you- Oh, right."

Leaning down, Mikey peered at the turtle shell in Leo's hands. "Why can we only see his shell?"

Straightening, he tapped a fist to his hand in excitement as an idea popped into his head. "Maybe just his shell got hit! The rest of him must have fallen out somewhere! We need to split up and look for him."

The withering looks from the other two prompted him to follow up with, "Turtles can be out of their shell, right?"

Raph glared. "No. But they can be out of their mind."

"He's hiding inside his shell." Leo clarified, cradling the turtle protectively. "If he's just a regular turtle now, he must be pretty scared."

"I'd be scared too, if Mikey'd gotten hold of me." Raphael agreed.

"Hey! I didn't know!" Mikey protested, before crouching again and reaching out to pat the shell gently. "Sorry, D. Come on out. Please?"

The three waited expectantly for a few seconds, but nothing happened.

"We need to get back to the lair." Leonardo decided. "Bring his things."

Even once back home, the turtle still seemed reluctant to emerge from within his shell. While Leo tried to coax him out, Mikey was more concerned with the throbbing graze on his beak from where he'd face-planted the floor during the battle with the mutant rats.

"No." repeated Raphael.

"Pleeeaaase?" Mikey wheedled.

"No. It's the smallest wound I've ever seen!"

"PUH-leeeaaase?"

Leo glanced over. "Just do it, Raph. Anything to shut him up!"

"Oh for crying out loud…" muttered Raph. Snatching the band aid from the box, he slapped it onto Mikey's face. "There. Better?"

Mikey grinned. "Yeah, Bro."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Congratulations. Now you look stupid."

"-er." he added, a beat later.

"Still nothing." Leo sighed, straightening from where he'd been examining. "Do you think he's ok?"

Mikey bounced over. "I bet I can totally get him to come out of his shell, dude! Just gimme a minute!"

Turning, he rushed over to Donatello's lab and started grabbing all the sorts of things he knew his brother wouldn't be able to resist.

"Ok, dude." Mikey declared, coming back with arms laden. "You want your computer? It's right here! Come and get it!"

He allowed a few moments of silence before continuing, "How about a picture of April?"

"A screwdriver?" he then tried. "Your center-fudge? And this, er…"

"Actually, I have no idea what this is." he confessed, waving the unknown item around. "But it looks awesome cool!"

After waiting for several seconds, Mikey realised he would need to play his trump card. He reached into the box lying nearby. "Fine! I didn't want to have to use this, dude, but…"

"How about a slice of fresh, hot, yummy… Pizza!"

Holding it above the hiding turtle, a section of the cheese topping stretched downward and oozed across the animal's shell. It only remained there for a few moments before Raphael's hand stretched out to snatch the slice of pizza away.

"Turtles don't eat pizza!" he snapped. Then, much to Michelangelo's distress and ignoring the irony, he stuffed the stolen slice into his own mouth.

"Vey eat bugz n pants." he continued, while chewing.

"Pants?" Mikey repeated. "I've got pants he can eat! Just wait a-"

"Plants, Mikey." Leo clarified. "And Raph, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Raphael responded by roughly pushing Leonardo aside, in order to crouch down in front of the frightened turtle.

"All right, come on little fella." he coaxed, before slowly moving to offer a fresh green leaf. "Raph's got a delicious leaf right here for you."

"There's no way that's going to work." snorted Leo. But he was forced to swallow his words a few moments later as a head slowly emerged from the shell, followed by the limbs.

"There we go." cooed Raph, as the turtle stretched out to take a bite of the leaf.

"Dude, are we sure that's Donnie?" Mikey whispered loudly to Leo.

"Where else could he be?" Leo asked. "I'm fairly sure it's him."

Mikey crouched down next to Raph, casting a careful eye over the turtle's baleful brown eyes and taking in the various unique markings and scratches on the carapace and plastron. He'd thought it would be easy to recognise any of his brothers, no matter what. But suddenly it seemed difficult to be certain.

Leo pointed. "Look, there's scratch on his shell that Raph gave him during the noodle bar incident."

"He took one of _my_ pizza gyoza!" Raph maintained. "He deserved it!"

Mikey twined his fingers together. "Actually, I kinda meant to tell you… But that was me."

Raph turned on Mikey, but never carried out the remonstration as they both spotted something at the same time. The turtle whose identity they were trying to confirm tilted its head and took a wide bite to finish off the leaf. There, obviously, was a notch in the top section of the turtle's beak. It matched up exactly with the familiar gap in Donatello's teeth.

"Yep, definitely Donnie!" Mikey declared.

"We need to figure out how to change him back." averred Leo, the 'I told you so' he clearly wanted to add hanging unsaid in the air.

But before either of the others could answer, a familiar greeting rang out from across the lair.

"Hi guys!" called April, raising a hand as she headed towards them.

Behind her, Casey followed. "Yo." he greeted, sliding into one of the seats at the makeshift kitchen island.

"Aww, did you get a new pet?" April asked, spotting the turtle. "It's so cute!"

"What's its name?" she asked, reaching out to gently pick up the turtle and cuddle it to her chest.

"It's Donnie." Leo explained, causing Casey to snort with laughter.

"You named the pet after Donnie?" he chuckled. "I like your style!"

"You don't want to do that, April…" Raph said, reaching out to pluck the turtle away from her. "You'll- OUCH!"

"Dude, no!" Mikey yelled, as Raph furiously flung the turtle across the room.

With a running leap, Mikey dove over the seats and managed to catch the flying creature before it crashed into the floor. Landing with a graceful, protective roll, Mikey then straightened and trotted back over to the group.

"Don't throw him around." he chided Raph, setting the turtle carefully back onto the table. "Poor Little-D."

"He bit me!" Raph ranted, glaring at the doe eyed turtle and raising a fist threateningly.

Leo batted the fist back down. "Cool it."

"So where's, uh… Big-D?" April asked, looking around. "In his lab?"

"No…" Leo said slowly, gesturing at the turtle that was slowly crawling its way back towards April. "He's, um, right here."

"He got hit by retro-mutagen." Mikey helpfully explained.

April and Casey stared for a few moments, eyes wide.

"You mean, that turtle, is-?" started April, horrified.

"Ugh, this is all your fault, Mikey!" Raph raged, suddenly.

Mikey started in surprise. "Me? What did I do?!"

"You were the one playing rat rodeo!"

Meanwhile, Casey snorted with laughter. "He turned back into a regular turtle? That's awesome! Looking good, Donnie. Better than ever, in fact!"

"It's not my fault the rat hit him!"

"Please tell me we're leaving him like this?"

"You shouldn't have been messing around!"

"All right, that's enough! Will everyone please be quiet!" insisted Leo, banging his hands on the table surface for emphasis and causing Donatello to sharply recoil back into his shell. "Uh, oops. Sorry Donnie."

"So, how do we change him back?" April asked.

Leo sighed heavily. "We've been trying to figure that out." He frowned. "Or, at least, I have."

"What we need." elucidated Mikey, "Is some anti-retro-mutagen."

April frowned slightly. "You mean, regular mutagen?"

"Is it that simple?" Leo asked, uncertainly. "We just need him to touch some mutagen to turn back to normal?"

"I guess so." offered Casey, picking at his ear.

"Yeah, one problem." Raph interjected. "Aren't we all out of regular mutagen?"

"Well, then we'll just have to find some."

Raph pushed himself to standing. "I guess we're hitting the streets."

"Oh!" Mikey gasped. "I know!"

The others turned towards him. However, rather than the optimistic expectation he was hoping for, the looks were closer to wearied resignation.

"Dudes!" he pouted, "Seriously, I have a really good idea."

Leo sighed. "All right, Mikey. Let's hear it."

"Buzzkill! Buzzkill has loads of mutagen in his lab." Michelangelo triumphantly declared.

"That's-!" Raph started angrily, before pausing to consider and regulate is tone. "-actually not a bad idea."

"Of course, Bro!"

"Without Donnie and that gadget he uses it would be hard to track down any lost canisters anyway." Leo mused. "All right, let's get some mutagen from the lab. But this is a stealth mission! We go in, grab some mutagen, then get out."

Raph frowned sulkily. "You spoil all our fun."

"Count me in." declared April, hopping down.

"All right! Time to bust some skulls!" Casey joined in, emphatically.

"No skull busting!" insisted Leonardo. "Raph, bring Donnie. Mikey, bring his things. Casey, bring your quiet voice."

"I don't think he has one." Mikey pointed out, shoving Donnie's possessions onto a table cloth before tying it onto the end of the bo staff as a makeshift bindle stick.

"You'd know." agreed Raphael, scooping the de-mutated turtle onto his shoulder.

"C'mon Spike." he murmured, before quickly correcting to, "I mean, Donnie."

"Time to get you fixed up."


	3. Chapter 3: He shoots, he scores!

**Chapter 3**

 **He shoots, he scores!**

"What is taking so long?" groused Raphael, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall. It felt like hours since Leonardo had crept forward to scout out what lay ahead. Though rationally Raph knew that only a few minutes had passed.

Nearby, April and Casey were having a whispered discussion that sounded suspiciously like the former berating the latter for failing to complete a school project, while Mikey was engrossed with and tapping away at some game on his T-phone.

"He's got two more minutes." Raph decided aloud, "Then I'm going in."

No-one seemed to be listening. Raph grunted in frustration, then plucked the de-mutated Donatello from his shoulder and peered at him. The turtle stared back, dark eyes unblinking.

"Bet you're getting pretty fed up being stuck like that." Raph commented, his expression softening marginally. "Don't worry. We'll turn you back."

"Though at least now you're not harping on about dorky stuff." he observed, twitching his hand out of the way as the turtle took a snap at it.

The turtle glared at him for a moment, then chirped insistently.

"I have no idea what you-" Raph started, before frowning, "Wait. Say that again?"

The turtle repeated the last squeak.

"Something… About the mutagen?" Raph guessed. From the excited response, it seemed he was on the right track.

"Important… Mutagen… Don't touch…" he slowly interpreted. "Well, duh! We know not to touch it. We just need it to touch you."

There came a series of animated squeaks and chirrups from the de-mutated turtle.

Raph listened intently, his gaze searching his brother's expression and body language. "There's, something else?"

"Something… Important. We need to… We need to…"

But before Raphael could decipher Donnie's incoherent words, there came the soft thump of Leo dropping into the midst of the group.

"Ok, the coast is clear." he said. "Stockman's just stepped out. Let's go!"

"Sorry, Donnie. It's gonna have to wait." Raph said, pushing the turtle back onto his shoulder. Around him, Mikey, Casey and April also readied themselves for action.

Following Leo, they crept in one by one via a dislodged panel and descended into Stockman's subterranean laboratory. Dropping onto the top level, they gazed down into the dimly lit lab. As expected, at the centre was the large, bulbous, mutation machine. At present it wasn't filled with mutagen, but connecting pipes leading into the boxed central pillar suggested that it could be.

Around the sides of the room, most of the cages where the fly mutant scientist kept his experiments were, mercifully, devoid of any living creatures. Instead, they were open and contained piles of broken electronic parts, mostly from Foot-bots and Kraang-bots. Others had boxes of mass purchased mechanical components, some had ranks of inactive Foot-bots and a few had large sealed crates that were easily big enough to hold an intact humanoid robot.

"Looks like Shred-head's planning on rebuilding his robot army." deduced Mikey.

Raphael cracked his knuckles. "Then let's shut them down!"

"We're here to fix Donnie." Leonardo reminded, before shrugging. "But once we've done that, then yeah. Go wild."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" exclaimed Casey.

Raph grinned at Leo. "Never thought I'd hear that from you."

Leo smirked back, then cast his measured gaze over the room. "Right. Let's get down to the console and see if we can get some mutagen."

They all jumped down the different levels, leaping from platform to platform, before converging at the desk. The surface flickered with lights and was covered with inviting buttons and levers.

Mikey immediately snaked a hand out, but Raphael was quick enough to bat it away before he could touch any of the buttons and, inevitably, sound the alarm.

"Uh, right." Leo said, staring at the panel. "So, how do we activate this thing?"

"Donnie would know." Mikey offered.

"Not helping!"

"Let me have a go." April offered, stepping forwards. "I understand a little… Ok, no. Honestly I have no idea. But we have to try something, right?"

Tentative reaching out, she pressed an unmarked button. There was a clunk and everyone tensed, looking around expectantly for the alarms to sound and enemies to leap out from every entrance. With a metallic ring, Raph drew his sais in preparation.

But nothing else happened. As everyone slowly let out their breath, April tried another combination of buttons, followed by a lever. There was another sliding thud, a softer noise than before, followed by a gelatinous gurgle as mutagen slowly started to fill the spherical vessel.

"Awesome, April!" grinned Mikey.

She smiled. "Thanks."

"We need to decant some." Leo said, casting his gaze around before it settled on a nearby bucket. "Ah, that'll do."

Picking it up, he stepped over to hold it underneath an electronically controlled spigot. "Ok, open up this pipe!"

"Right! Um…"

April hesitated, her eyes searching the control panel as she tried to figure out how to do as she'd been instructed. She reached first for one button, then changed her mind and pressed another.

Raphael looked up as, with a hiss, several of the cages on the floors above them slid open.

"Ok, not that one." April deduced. "Let's try…"

But before she could do anything else all of them suddenly whipped their gazes towards the archway leading into the rest of the enemy base, from which approaching voices could now be heard.

"-ready for firzzzzt trial." concluded a familiar but unwelcome buzz.

"It is going to be fun, destroying your creations." came a drawl that could only be Fishface.

Rahzar's gravelly voice followed. "I could defeat them alone."

"We'll zzzzee-!"

The three of them emerged from the ground floor entrance and stopped suddenly at the sight at their unexpected visitors.

"We'll hold them off!" Leo directed, setting down the bucket. "April, get the valve open!"

"This is more like it." grinned Raphael, spoiling for a fight. Rotating one sai to run alongside his wrist, he charged recklessly into battle.

"GOONGALA!" Casey emphatically agreed, only moments behind the mutant turtle and with a hockey stick already in hand.

Stockman leapt into the air, taking flight and nimbly dodging as Leo's ninjaken swung by. He dove towards where Mikey stood with nunchucks twirling, ready to defend April as she worked on the control panel.

"Get away from zzzzere!" Stockman buzzed, swooping down. He yelped as he took a nunchuck to the head, but still managed to slap an arm down onto the panel.

Alarms began to sound and there was electronic beep of Foot-bots activating, as well as the sound of cracking wood from above as the crates were torn open by their occupants.

"Heads up!" called Leo, as metallic footsteps stomped forwards.

Raph, preparing to make a second charge at the snapping Rahzar, glanced upwards. He expected the usual Foot-bots jumping down to join in the party. What he wasn't expecting was the shorter, samurai weapon wielding, green painted robots which had a sturdy carapace protecting their internal workings that joined them.

"What the-?" he started, his hesitation giving Rahzar enough time to regroup and launch a flurry of attacks against him.

With a grunt Raphael raised his forearms in defence, twisting to kick at Rahzar's legs in an effort to trip him up. As he did, the skeletal mutant managed a decisive blow to his shoulder.

"Donnie!" Raph yelled, as the de-mutated turtle was sent flying.

"I've got him!" Mikey yelled, abandoning his post in order to race over and rescue Donatello before he plunged over the edge of the ledge and into the seemingly bottomless waste pipe below.

With Michelangelo out of the way, Stockman took the opportunity to fly at April again, grabbing her ponytail and lifting her laboriously into the air.

"Let me go!" April shrieked, twisting like an eel as she drew her tessen fan to swipe at her captor.

The two had a brief skirmish inflight, before Stockman was forced to drop April into the walkway extending around the top of the mutagen filled tank. With her kunoichi training showing, April barely took a moment to recover before launching a fresh attack and flinging her tessen.

"What are these things?" Leonardo protested, engaged in battle with several Foot-bots and one of the new robots that had joined the fray. This one wielded twin blades and had a blue stripe painted across its face.

"They're evil robot us'es!" Mikey declared, before floundering as he tried to come up with a name, "They're… They're…"

"We-are-Turtle-bots." the orange striped Turtle-bot declared as it stomped by.

"Hey, not fair!" Mikey whined. "My evil robot twin beat me to it!"

Holding tightly on to Donnie he used the borrowed the bo staff to vault to the next level, away from where the purple and red striped turtle-bots were trying to team up on him.

"Boo-ya-ka-sha." came a robotic exclamation, as the orange striped Turtle-bot sent Casey sprawling backwards against a wall with a well-timed hit.

Stockman cackled gleefully from above the fight, as April's tessen flew towards him. "My turtlezzz are working perfect-ugh!"

"And that's _my_ phrase." Mikey shouted at his counterpart, moments before Stockman landed on him. Donnie was knocked out of his hands and sent skittering towards the edge of the ledge once more.

Leo reacted quickly, felling a Foot-bot and diving past his robot equivalent while stretching out to grab the falling turtle. "We need to get him in the mutagen!"

Raphael, engaged in battle with Rahzar, finally sent his adversary flying into one of the nearby cells. Slapping his hand on the door control to trap him in there, he spun around to re-join the fray.

"To me, Leo!" he shouted, racing to the far side of the room and away from immediate conflict.

"Go long!" came the reply.

With three robots rapidly descending upon him, Leonardo flung Donnie over the central gap and towards where Raph was heading. Not a moment too soon, as seconds later he was sent sprawling on the floor by his own metallic copy.

"I've got your shell, Leo!" Mikey called, leaping down from the upper layer and using the blade of his kadama to tear the carapace away from the blue striped robot. Landing gracefully, he straightened with the torn panel in his hand.

"Get it?" he grinned.

"Yeah, you got it Mikey." Leo agreed, twisting away from attacks and jumping back to his feet.

On the other side of the room, Raph caught the flying Donnie. He leapt to higher ground, narrowly dodging Fishface as he leapt towards him with robotic legs outstretched.

From above a canister suddenly came flying down from the walkway and struck the Foot-bot that had been harassing Casey, sending its head spinning into the corner.

"Thanks, Red!" Casey called to April, before shouting, "Raph, I'm open!"

Raphael sent Donatello flying back over, then turning to swipe viciously at Fishface with his sais.

"I don't know what you're throwing around, but if you want it then I want it!" the mutant hissed. Abandoning the fight with Raph, he pounded in pursuit of the thrown turtle.

"Casey, look out!" Raphael shouted. He initially made to follow, but a pained cry from Mikey made him instead check his direction to race towards to his brother.

The fight momentarily forgotten as he backed away, Mikey was clutching his hands over his beak. "Oww!"

"Mikey!" Raph called, sliding to a stop alongside him. "Are you ok? What happened?!"

"Buzzkill tore the band aid right off my face!"

Raph's scowled and prepared to launch into a tirade at his brother, but was distracted as Stockman swooped back towards them.

"Up here!" April was yelling, waving her arms to Casey to attract his attention.

Casey had been stretching to catch Donnie, but reconsidered and at the last moment switched to swing with his hockey stick instead. Donnie connected with a dull thud and was sent spinning up into the air.

"D's going to have one shell of a headache." Mikey managed to comment, swiping at the robotic Raphael while the real Raphael had a brief and very one-sided struggle with Stockman.

After just a few seconds, the mutant fly was flung unceremoniously into the nearest wall by Raph. For his troubles, he was left clutching a red bandana in one hand after tearing it from the turtle's head.

Angered by the loss, Raphael would have pursued to reclaim his property if he hadn't then become the recipient of a glancing blow dealt by his variant of the Turtle-bots, after it had finished throwing Mikey down to the lower level. Whirling with a furious growl, Raph launched a series of attacks on his robotic counterpart.

On the platform, April stretched out to try to catch Donnie while carefully balancing to make sure she didn't fall. Casey's hit had gone wide and she was at arm's length trying to get hold of the fast moving turtle. Her fingers brushed over the shell, but he bounced out of her hold and dropped like a stone into the vat of mutagen below.

"Donnie!" April yelled, before pausing in recollection of him failing to catch her in similar circumstances. "Uh… Now we're even!"

"I hope this works." Raph muttered, yanking his sais out of his twitching mechanical likeness and rushing over to the panel. There he searched for the control that would eject the mutagen, and everything within it, onto the drainage grate suspended below.

Within the mutagen, the small shadow started to expand and elongate. Bipedal limbs began to sprout and the figure took on a more humanoid shape while still maintaining the familiar reptilian features. The body writhed, clearly in discomfort as the mutation took effect.

"Raph!" shouted Leo, still engaged in battle. He roared in pain as the purple striped Turtle-bot he was battling managed to slash across his forearm with its naginata blade, spilling several dark drops of blood. "Get him out of there!"

"Working on it!" Raph shouted back, staring in confusion at the flickering panel. "Uh… Well…"

In frustration, he gave up and just shoved his sai into the middle of it. To his relief, the gambit worked and the mutagen tank opened, depositing the unmistakeable form of Donatello onto the grate. However it also opened the cage holding Rahzar and more of the cages above, releasing more Foot-bots into the fray.

With a groan, Donnie staggered dizzily to his feet with eyes closed and a hand clutched to his head.

"Look out!" yelled Raphael as Fishface rushed forward with glee and jumped down onto the swinging platform, trying to seize the opportunity to deal with Donatello while he was disadvantaged.

However the aquatic mutant's merriment was short lived, as he was hit by a splatter of vomit and recoiled in horror.

"Nice shot, Donnie." Raph commented approvingly, arriving in time to batter Fishface to the floor and whisk his brother out of immediate vicinity.

"We're leaving. Now!" commanded Leonardo, breaking out of his fight and running over help Raph carry their disoriented and barely conscious brother.

Between the two of them they carried Donnie upwards towards their earlier entrance point. Raph was still without his mask, but he had a replacement back at their lair and now didn't seem to be the time to fight over a scrap of fabric. He'd let Stockman keep his trophy. For now.

Alongside the three turtles came Casey and April, also clambering back towards the ceiling. With a glance back, Raph was relieved to see Mikey following as well. With Donnie's bindle staff stuffed into his belt, in his arms he was clutching a black box that he'd pilfered from the prone Turtle-bot that lay in two motionless pieces on the floor.

As he brought up the rear of the retreating group Mikey turned and, with a flourish, prepared several of the smoke-bomb eggs between his fingers and thumb.

"We'll be back." he said dramatically, before reconsidering. "Maybe. If we need to. I dunno, dudes. Bye!"

Concealed by a cloud of smoke, they escaped.


	4. Chapter 4: Familial resemblance

**CHAPTER 4**

 **Familial resemblance**

"Mnhh…" Donatello groaned, raising a hand to his head. By the familiar smell, he knew he was in the sewers. The fact the was laying on something soft rather than in a pool of stagnant water implied he was back in the lair. Probably in the living area, by the wide feel of space.

Through his eyelids he could see the area was bright, illuminated by the variety of lights they'd installed. But even that was hurting his head so he didn't dare take a proper look just yet. Nearby, he could hear movement and breathing from one of his brothers. Just from those small but familiar sounds, he suspected he knew which one.

"Ugh… What hit me?"

"Casey." came the answer, the tones confirming Raphael.

"Figures." Donnie muttered.

Raph wasn't listening, as he'd instead turned to yell, "Hey, he's awake!"

"D!" Mikey called excitedly from across the room, bouncing over towards them.

Donatello opened his eyes a small sliver, just in time to see Mikey launching himself at him.

"Whoa!" he yelped, trying to dodge aside. The movement failed and he got caught up in an enthusiastic hug.

"I'm so glad you're not Little-D anymore." Mikey beamed, refusing to let go.

"I was too." Donnie winced, now uncomfortably aware of various bruises. "Now, I'm not so sure."

"Is he ok?" came Leo's voice as he approached.

"He's fine." Raphael confirmed, watching the spectacle with folded arms.

"About time you woke up." Leo griped warmly. "You've been out cold all day!"

"Still doesn't beat your three month record, Leo." Mikey teased.

Raph scowled. "Not funny."

Finally adjusting to the light in the room, Donnie opened his eyes properly and looked around. He was pleased to find himself exactly where he had assumed himself to be, with all three of his brothers standing nearby and seemingly unharmed, save a small bandage on Leo's arm. Though exactly how Don had come to be back in the lair, he wasn't sure.

He could only remember wisps of the events that had transpired, like fragmented dreams disappearing from the conscious mind. He remembered fighting the mutated rats, then the shrivelling feeling as he'd been hit by his own vial of retro-mutagen. That was an embarrassing moment he would actually have rather forgotten.

Beyond that point, it had been hard to hold a coherent thought for long. There was a warmth and a smell of April that teased his mind, followed by the rolling sensation of riding on Raph's shoulder to the laboratory. There he'd had a brief moment of lucidity, though about what was now evasive, before events had spiralled into battle. From there, mostly he remembered spinning. Lots of dizzying, nauseating spinning.

Donnie furrowed his brow, trying to piece everything together. How much time had passed? Was it still today, or was today now tomorrow? By the sounds of things he'd been unconscious for a while, so it was probably tomorrow. Or today, as tomorrow now was.

"Whoa, that's new!" exclaimed Mikey suddenly, leaning forwards to peer closely at his brother.

"Get out of my face, Mikey." Donnie said, shoving him aside.

Raphael stepped closer, pushing Donatello back to take a look. "No, he's right."

Don frowned, "What?"

"You finally joined the cool blue club." Leo explained with a grin. "Though you only get partial membership."

Prompted by a blank look, Mikey chipped in with, "Your eyes, dude!" as he gestured to his own.

Shoving Mikey all the way off, Donnie got to his feet and headed swiftly for his lab. Grabbing a small, cracked mirror from the shelf, he peered into it at his own reflection.

There, gazing back at him, was one brown eye and one blue eye.

"But, this is… Huh?"

"It makes you look like a freaky mutant!" Mikey said helpfully, walking up with Leo to stand nearby.

Raph sauntered in. "Nothing new there, then."

For several long seconds, Donnie stared at the mirror. A horrible thought was brewing in his mind, one that he desperately hoped was wrong.

"What did you guys do?"

Mikey tilted his head. "Huh?"

"What did you _do_?" Donnie insisted. "When you changed me back. How did you do it?"

"We dropped you into the mutagen." Leo explained, an edge of defensiveness in his voice as if he already suspected it had fixed one problem and caused another.

Donatello could feel his heart racing. "Who did it? Who dropped me in?"

The other three glanced at one another, trying to remember the finer details.

"I remember Leo caught him from me." Mikey volunteered.

"Yeah, then I threw him at Raph."

"I had to toss him to Casey."

"It was Casey?" Donnie asked, "Casey was the last person to touch me?"

Raph shook his head. "Nah, he just hit you with his hockey stick to April."

Donnie felt his heart leap into his throat, but Mikey shook his head.

"Naw, April missed. That's when he fell into the mutagen."

"Then, Raph?" Donnie clarified, tracing things back.

Leo tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his chin. "I think April's fingers may have brushed him."

"So, it was April?" Donnie confirmed, weakly.

"Maybe?" Leonardo replied, uncertainly.

"I… I can't believe this is happening! No, she's immune. I just… I have to be sure. Sample, I need a sample." Donnie exclaimed, turning and hurrying over to his desk in order to clear some space to work in.

"You're not being very grateful." sulked Mikey. "After we went to all the effort to re-mutate you!"

"I'm grateful, really, I am." Donnie said, not looking up from setting up his experiments.

"Guys, let's just give him some space." advised Leo.

Donatello barely even noticed as his brothers retreated from the room, so intent was he on grabbing various vials from the fridge. For several hours he worked feverishly, testing and then retesting the samples when he got the answer he was fearing.

Eventually, he was forced to admit defeat. The results was absolutely and totally conclusive, without any shadow of doubt remaining.

Slowly, lethargically, Donnie dragged himself out of the lab and into the living area. His brothers were there, each of them relaxing in their own separate ways.

"Well." Donnie started, his voice laden with melodramatic tragedy. "My life is officially over."

"That's too bad. It was nice knowing you." Raph answered, barely looking up from his magazine.

"Can I have your lab?" asked Leo, from the pinball machine.

"Oh, I want his computer! Can I have his computer?" called Mikey, who was sprawled on his stomach on the floor, engrossed in watching Crognard the Barbarian with Ice-cream Kitty in a cooler beside him.

"No, you can't!" Donnie snapped at Mikey, before turning to Leo, "And why the shell would you want my lab?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know yet. Maybe I'd make it into a gym."

"Oh, nice idea." Raph said, approvingly.

"Fine. Take my lab. It doesn't matter anymore." Donatello proclaimed dramatically,

Finishing his current game, Leo sighed and turned around. "All right. I'm probably going to regret asking this, but why is your life over?"

Mikey gasped. "You weren't rubbing highly dangerous, super-cooled mutagen on your skin, were you?"

"No. I'm not stupid!"

"Yeah, you'd have to be pretty stupid to do that, huh?" Mikey agreed, before whistling an innocent tune.

Ignoring him, Donnie began the background to his woeful tale. "When we were mutated, our DNA was mixed with the last thing with which we came in contact…"

"Sensei." confirmed Leo. "Before he became a rat."

"Right, making us human-turtle hybrids. Genetically, we became Splinter's sons. But, when I was hit by the retro-mutagen, it removed Splinter's DNA and reverted me back to being just a regular turtle."

"Then we dropped you in the mutagen and you changed right back!" concluded Mikey, beaming.

"Wrong." Donnie said, flatly. "This time, it wasn't Master Splinter that I was last in contact with. It was April. It's April's DNA that's mixed with mine."

Realisation dawned in Leo's eyes. If Raph got it, he showed no outward reaction other than to turn the page of his magazine. Mikey, predictably, looked blank.

"April and I are now genetically related." Don elaborated, slowly, for Mikey's benefit.

"Good." said Raphael, not looking up. "Maybe this'll mean you'll stop embarrassing yourself."

Mikey still looked blank.

"She's my genetic parent!" Donnie finally snapped, in overly simplistic terms.

That just served to confuse Mikey more. "She's your Mom? But, dude… You're a turtle and she's a human, Kraang, thing."

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" roared Donnie, "Yes, we look different. Given our relative ages, it's more like we're half-siblings, or cousins. We share DNA, we're related!"

"It also means," he started, his voice catching, "that unlike the rest of you, Master Splinter is no longer my-"

"What is all this noise." came the stern voice of the very person.

Mikey turned big, tearful eyes towards his sensei. "Donnie's not our brother anymore!"

"Yes I am!" insisted Donnie. "You didn't understand a word I was saying, did you?"

"You are brothers. And you are my sons." Splinter said, calmly. "You will always be my sons. All of you. No matter what."

"Sensei…" Donatello choked.

"And as your father; Stop all this racket!" Splinter commanded, turning on his heel. "Some of us are trying to meditate."

"Sorry, Sensei." Leonardo said, putting a hand on his brother's arm. "Come on Donnie, spar with me. It'll make you feel better."

Donatello glanced down at Leo's bandaged forearm. "But… You're hurt."

"Means you might stand a chance." his brother teased.

Donnie's expression darkened. "Oh, you are going down!"

The two brothers stood in the dojo, squaring off against one another. Leonardo had preparedly drawn only one of his ninjaken, in apparent favour of resting his injured arm. Meanwhile Donatello twirled his bo staff before bracing in preparation to start.

"Hajime!" barked Leo.

Donatello promptly raised his bo in anticipation of an immediate flurry of blows. But they didn't come, as Leonardo instead threw himself to one side. From there he launched an attack, which was easily evaded by his target flipping out of the way.

"I'm sorry about you and April." Leo said, stepping back to circle carefully as he watched for an opening.

"I'm just not ready to give up on her."

"You don't have a choice." Leonardo pragmatically explained, lunging forwards and catching Donnie across the shell with the flat of his blade.

Donatello responded by deftly swinging his bo staff at his brother's legs, forcing the turtle to jump in order to avoid being sent sprawling onto the mat.

"You might find it works out better, this way." Leo suggested, as he landed effortlessly nearby. "You'll have a unique relationship."

"Yeah, but-" started Donnie, before being clipped in the face as Leonardo leapt towards him with a an offhand punch. "Hey!"

"Pay attention." the other chided.

"You have no idea what I'm going through." Donatello snapped, whirling around and catching the leader a glancing blow on the side with his bo staff.

Leo skittered backwards and took a moment to compose himself. "Actually, I have a pretty good idea."

"How could you possibly-" started Donnie, leaping in for another attack before hesitating as realisation dawned. "Oh."

Leonardo took the hesitation as the opportunity he needed to quickly sweep with a leg and knock Donnie onto his shell. The prone turtle landed on the mat, unhurt, then watched as his brother claimed the victory and sheathed his blade before offering his good arm.

"It doesn't mean you have to stop caring about her." Leo explained, gently. "You just have to care differently."

Donatello took the offer of a hand up and retrieved his bo staff, shoving it back through the shoulder strap of his belt. He then sighed heavily before looking over at his brother, his expression now marginally calmer than it had been previously. "Yeah. I… I guess you're right. Thanks, Leo."

Leonardo smiled and patted Donnie's shoulder. "Anytime."

Together they turned and headed back towards the living area.

"You're going to have to tell her." Leo then instructed, before tilting his head. From the other room, the snippets of chatter now included the tones of April and Casey. "And now's your chance."

"Not yet." Donnie implored. "I just… I need a bit more time."

Leo sighed. "Fine, but don't wait too long. Or I'll let Mikey tell her! If he hasn't already."

The two hesitated and shared a glance before abruptly picking up the pace. Floating through from the other room was Mikey's unmistakable voice.

"-are now related, like brother and sister!"


	5. Chapter 5: Everything's relative

**Chapter 5**

 **Everything's relative**

"-are now related, like brother and sister!" concluded Mikey, waving his hands for dramatic effect as he explained.

He was stood in the kitchen area with April while he put Ice-cream Kitty back into the freezer. As he did so, he couldn't resist an affectionate lick of the cat's nose.

"That's, uh… Really something." April replied, hesitantly.

"April! It's not what you think!" called Donnie, rushing over and stumbling in his haste. "Well, maybe it _is_ what you think, but…"

"Mikey!" berated Leo. "Why did you tell her?!"

Michelangelo frowned at his brothers. "Hey, if you guys didn't want it spoiling then you shouldn't have run off in the middle of the show!"

"Show?" spluttered Donatello.

Leonardo hesitated, confused. "Wait… What were you talking about?"

"Crognard, dude!" Mikey explained. "Turns out, Graah and Wizardess are long lost siblings."

"That makes no sense." Donnie stated, "For a start, they're completely different races and-"

He stopped with sudden realisation.

"Ah, yeah, Crognard." Leonardo agreed, grabbing Donatello's arm and yanking him backwards. "Well, have fun explaining that to April!"

"Don't tell her anything about Donnie." Leo hissed to Mikey.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, before beaming. "I didn't understand any of it anyway!"

"Tell me what?" asked April, curiously.

"Nothing!" Don said abruptly.

April frowned slightly, peering at him. "Donnie, what happened to your eyes?"

He stared at her for a moment, before quickly catching up with himself. "Ah, uh… That's what we were going to tell you! One of my eyes has changed colour. Neat, huh?"

"Oh, um… Yeah! Looks great." April agreed.

Mikey gave Ice-cream Kitty one last affectionate nuzzle and lick, then closed the freezer door.

"Don't go anywhere, Donnie!" he said. "Now that you've stopped being all melodramatic and shouty, I have something awesome cool to show you."

"My shouting was completely legitimate and justified." Donnie protested after him.

Followed by quizzical looks from the others, Michelangelo rushed over to pick up the item of interest. It was the black box he'd pilfered from the Turtle-bot during the battle at Stockman's laboratory.

About the size of a dictionary, it was heavy and marked with various strange codes that meant nothing to the youngest turtle. It didn't seem to have any wires coming out of it, or any slots for them to connect. Nor did it seem to have any switches or dials. However Mikey was sure that the protruding metal prongs were important and even more sure that Donnie would be able to tell him exactly what the strange and doubtless highly important device was.

Very proud of himself, he walked back over and held it out to his intellectually gifted brother.

"I got you a… Thingy!"

"A thingy." Donatello repeated, incredulously.

"Yup! It was inside the evil Turtle-bots we fought at Buzzkill's lab." Mikey explained. "I bet it's like… Their brain, or something! Without it, Stockmanfly won't be able to make any more. And, I'll bet you can use it to work out all his nefarious plans."

Donnie pressed his fingers to his brow, as if fighting the mother of all headaches. "No. No I can't."

"Sure you can. I believe in you, dude!" Mikey said, encouragingly. "You'll figure it out in no time."

"No, really, I can't!" Donatello snapped. "That's a battery. A common, every-day, run of the mill battery! Stockman probably has boxes of them lying around. I have a dozen in my lab!"

"It's not special?" clarified Michelangelo, wilting a little.

"Not at all." Donnie harshly confirmed, folding his arms.

Mikey stared for a moment at the black box, then sighed and chucked it into the corner. "Oh well."

The clatter made Raph and Casey briefly look over, from where they were having an animated discussion about whether rats or cockroaches were more disgusting. They soon went back to their argument.

"So what were these Turtle-bots?" Donatello asked, glancing between Leonardo and April for clarification.

Mikey opened his mouth to explain, but Leo beat him to it. "New robots. Like the Foot-bots, but designed to look kind of like us."

"They had a carapace protecting their inner workings." April described.

"But I totally-" Mikey started, about to explain his prowess in dismantling one of them. But before he got a chance, Leo cut him off.

"Mikey was able to separate one of them, and Raph got through the carapace of another." Leo explained. "They weren't much more of a threat than their usual bots."

"That's not what you were saying when the Donnie-bot cut your arm." Mikey pointed out, seeking revenge for his stolen thunder. "You were all 'Ow, my arm! I'm dying here! Retreat, retreat'!"

Leonardo scowled. "No I wasn't. And I was only hit because I was making sure our Donnie was ok!"

"Thanks, Leo." Donnie said, with a smile.

"I-" started Mikey, determined to regale them with his side of events.

"Mikey, will you be quiet?" Leo insisted. "We're trying to tell Donnie what happened."

"So am I!"

Leo sighed. "Yes, but you exaggerate, you make stuff up, then forget what you were explaining!"

"No I don't!" Mikey protested, before reconsidering. "Well, maybe a little. But I only add stuff to make it more interesting! And… What were we talking about, again?"

"See, this is exactly what I mean."

"Dude, fine. If you don't want my help then I'll just go someplace else." Mikey threatened, folding his arms. For a few moments he stared at the expectant faces of Leonardo and Donatello, before realising what they were waiting for.

"All right, I'm going!" Turning on his heel, he marched away.

No one tried to stop him and Mikey found his legs had carried him into the dojo. There, Master Splinter seemed to have finished his meditation and was busy changing the candles on the shrine to his former family.

Although he flicked his ears backwards as he heard Michelangelo enter, the turtle had to wait until his Sensei had finished before gaining his full attention.

"Hello, My Son." Splinter greeted, walking over. Catching Mikey's pout, he added, "Is something troubling you?"

"No-one takes me seriously." Mikey complained, sulkily.

Splinter stroked his chin thoughtfully, before choosing to go with; "When you are content to simply be yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you for who you are."

"But they don't!"

"Oh? Well, in that case, I suggest you try being someone else." Splinter replied, an edge of irony in his voice that Michelangelo completely missed.

Mikey considered Splinter's words, then grinned. "Yeah… Yeah! That's it. I'll beat them at their own game."

"Sensei, will you train me," Michelangelo asked, putting on his best puppy dog eyes. "to use their weapons?

Splinter hesitated, slightly taken aback by Mikey's request. "My Son, I don't think…"

"Pleeeaaase?"

There was a long pause while Splinter considered, before reaching a conclusion that might well have been that training, even if for the wrong reasons, was likely to be beneficial to the least serious of his children.

"Very well. Arm yourself Michelangelo and we shall begin."

With an enthusiastic grin, Mikey ran over to the weapons wall. After a moment of contemplation, he picked up a ninjaken in one hand and a sai in the other.

* * *

The Shredder sat upon the throne in the penthouse of his building. His hands gripped the edges of the seat, tight enough to whiten the knuckles, demonstrating his fury to those who knelt beneath him. To his side stood Tiger Claw, watching silently over proceedings, while above the rain was falling from the dark sky and pattering down upon the glass panels of the roof.

"They were forced to retreat, Master Shredder." Rahzar said, defensively. "We won the battle."

"They destroyed more of the robot army." The Shredder growled. "Stockman, you assured me your new creations would be unstoppable!"

"They shouzzzzld have been." Stockman wretchedly explained. "But I didn't have time to tezzzzt them firzzzzt. There were teething izzzzues."

"We did, at least, manage to obtain the samples." Fishface cut in.

Stockman nodded quickly in agreement. "Yezzzz. We can begin workzzzz immediately."

The Shredder sat back slightly, threading his fingers ominously together. "Very well. Proceed with the plan."

"Create me a monster to defeat them, once and for all!"


	6. Chapter 6: Brothers at war

**CHAPTER 6**

 **Brothers at war**

Leonardo straightened, flexing his fingers. In the several weeks had passed since the turtles and their human friends had broken into Stockman's laboratory to restore Donatello to his mutated form, the cut on his arm was healed with just another faint scar remaining to show where it had been

Donnie's newly mismatched eyes had shown no sign of reverting to both be the reddish-brown hue that they had been previously, nor had the teenager stopped moping about since learning that anything other than platonic affection for April was now off limits.

He'd been patient with his brother, after all Leo did understand a little of what the other was going through. But really, Donnie needed to accept the situation for what it was and move on. He still hadn't told April the truth and it was reaching the point where Leo was just going to have to inform her himself.

But, right now, all four of the turtles were carrying out surveillance. There had been several reports of a block in downtown Manhattan being frequented by the Bebop Records van used by the aforementioned Bebop and the hulking Rocksteady. However, the turtles had been here for several hours now and still seen no evidence to suggest the two were operating in this area.

On the far side of the roof stood the sturdy form of Raphael, arms folded as he glared out into the night. He was lost in whatever thoughts went through that thick head of his, but at least he was doing his job.

The same couldn't be said for Michelangelo who, by the way he was crouching, was quite possibly asleep on his arms.

Donatello meanwhile seemed to be challenging Raph for who could manage the most brooding angst upon the rooftop this dark night. Leaning against his bo staff, he occasionally let out a heavy sigh.

With an inward sigh of his own, Leo walked over to his lovelorn brother with the intention to try, once again, to appease him.

"Are you ok, Donnie?" he asked, keeping his voice low and already knowing what the answer would be.

"No." Donatello lamented. "I just can't get her out of my mind, Leo!"

"Yeah. I can tell."

Donnie seemed to miss the sarcastic edge to his brother's tone. "If only… If only I could use the retro-mutagen again, then re-mutate myself with another person!"

"Well, why don't you?" Leo asked, spontaneously trying a new tack.

His brother shook his head. "It's too unpredictable. Mutations are too unstable. Honestly, I'm lucky I wasn't turned into a pile of goo. I just… I can't risk it."

Leonardo was silent for a moment, his mind working quickly before he suggested, "Well, maybe you could test it on someone else first."

Donnie snorted. "Yeah. Who'd volunteer for a job like that!"

"I would."

When Donatello didn't answer beyond a surprised expression, Leo continued, "I'd volunteer. I know you could do it. But, even if it did go wrong, I know you wouldn't rest until you found a way to turn me back."

"Leo…" Donnie said, clearly touched by the offer. But then he shook his head. "No, I couldn't. It wouldn't be right."

"I just… I need to give up on her." he concluded, sadly.

Leo shook his head, running with the idea that had crept into his mind. "No, Donnie. If you feel this strongly about her, then you should fight for that! You're the smartest guy I know."

On the other side of the roof, Raphael glanced over towards them. His expression was unreadable in the gloom.

Donatello tightened his hold on his bo staff, staring at Leo and clearly on the path to being persuaded. Seizing the opportunity, Leonardo pressed on.

"If you try, I know you'll find a way to change my genetic- I mean, your genetic, er… Our genetic code." he continued, stumbling over himself.

Leonardo knew he'd blown it as Donatello's expression suddenly darkened. "Your genetic code. _Your_ genetic code?"

"This wasn't about me at all, was it?" Donnie accused, raising his voice and prodding Leo's plastron roughly. "It's all about you!"

"I thought you cared!" he continued, angrily. Across the roof, Raphael was frowning at the pair of them and even Michelangelo stirred.

"I do care!" Leo protested. "But I just… I thought that maybe there was a way we could both get what we wanted…"

"You're so hypocritical, Leo!" Donnie shouted, looming furiously over his brother. "You lecture me when you're no better yourself."

"What would you do, even if I did fix your _problem_?" he continued, pushing Leo backwards. "She's under Shredder's control. At least April is on our side!"

"Uh, guys?" said Mikey, gesturing at the street below. But no-one was listening.

"Karai is not our enemy." Leo snapped, growing angry at Donnie's massive overreaction. "We can save her! And then-"

Donatello raised his arms in frustration. "She's Sensei's daughter! And you're his son!"

"I know!" Leo shouted, shoving Donnie roughly away in frustration. "I KNOW ALREADY!"

"Hey, hey!" Raph interjected, stepping over. "I never thought it'd be me saying this but… Cool it, the pair of you!"

Leonardo and Donatello both turned on him, glaring furiously. "Stay out of this, Raph!"

Raphael's response was to reach out and bash his brother's heads together.

"We're here to do a job! Remember?"

"Guys?" Mikey said again.

"Yeah, well you can just do it without me." Donnie snapped, rubbing his head. "This is a waste of time anyway. I'm going home!"

Leo glared. "You're not going anywhere. We're a team, we stick together."

"I refuse to be a team with someone so duplicitous and narcissistic!"

Mikey's head reeled. "Whoa, long words dude."

"Fine, I wanted something for myself!" Leo admitted brashly, throwing up his arms. "Is that so wrong? Because I'm the leader, am I never allowed to WANT anything?"

"D'you think your argument could be any LOUDER?" Raphael shouted. "I think there are enemies out there that haven't heard you yet!"

"No, I'm pretty sure they heard." Mikey said. "And you might want to move, because they're aiming a rocket launcher in this direction."

Leo whipped his head abruptly round to Michelangelo, then saw the hulking form of Rocksteady on the street below with the rocket launcher propped on his shoulder and ready to fire in their direction.

"SCATTER!" Leonardo yelled, sprinting for the edge of the roof as his brothers all did the same.

Not a moment too soon, as with a roar the weapon fired and the missile came flying towards the rooftop where they'd been standing just moments previously. It exploded, sending shrapnel spraying out in all directions.

Swinging down the side of the mercifully abandoned building, Leo ducked his head briefly into his shell to avoid being hit by falling masonry. A pang of fear gripped him as he reached street level, as he frantically hoped that all of his brothers had safely escaped the detonation.

Although, with a briefly bitter thought, he did find himself considering that Donatello taking a rock to his smug face might not be so bad right at the moment.

"Did I get zem?" Rocksteady gruffly asked his flamboyant partner.

"Boom! A direct hit, baby!" Bebop crowed, somersaulting down from where he was viewing the attack from a canopy extending out from the warehouse they were parked outside. "A work of art, my friend. There is no way that any of those little green freaks could have survived that explosion!"

"Guess again, pig." came Raphael's surly tones, as he stepped out from the alleyway with sais drawn menacingly.

"Ooaaww, what?!" Bebop complained.

"We're like, ninjas dude!" Mikey said, bouncing out from behind his brother.

"We're not _like_ ninjas. We _are_ ninjas." protested the grammar police from behind Leo's shoulder.

Leonardo glared briefly at Donatello, earning him a glower in response, before he pointed a ninjaken towards the warthog and rhinoceros mutants. "Get them!"

The four turtles sprang into action, leaping forward with weapons ready for the fight. Although, Leonardo noticed that in Raphael's case the leaping was hampered slightly as he seemed to be favouring one ankle following the rooftop explosion.

"Aw, Snap! We gotta move!" Bebop called to Rocksteady.

"I would like to fight you." Rocksteady explained gruffly, throwing the spent launcher into the back of the van. "But we has be going. Prototypes must be delivered now. Nyet delay."

He turned back around just in time to see Raphael's fist flying towards him. "I don't think so!"

Beyond Rocksteady, Leonardo could see that there were several large boxes loaded into the back of the van. There was no indication about what they contained, but if the Shredder wanted them so badly then it was unlikely to be anything good.

"Donnie," he called, stepping up to face Rocksteady after Raph was sent flying, "get the boxes!"

"No." came the response, much to Leo's surprise.

"No?" Leo repeated, anger rising. "What do you mean, _no_?"

Donnie peered around the side of the van, from where he'd been taking on Bebop with Mikey, before continuing cuttingly. "I mean _no_ , Leo! If you want something, do it yourself."

For a moment the two brothers glared at each other, fury flying between them. But Leo didn't get any more time to protest about the blatant contempt for his leadership before Rocksteady's giant fist battered him backwards.

"I'll do it!" offered Mikey, leaping onto the roof of the van and swinging down inside. "Bebop's gone anyway…"

Leo sat up, rubbing his head, "Gone?!"

"My name is NOT Bebop!" protested the warthog's disembodied voice.

"He's invisible again." Donnie complained, reaching to retrieve some smoke bombs and use them to illustrate the enemy's location. But, before he could throw them, his hand was batted by the invisible individual and the smoke bombs sent flying.

Bebop crowed at his success, "Whoo, yeah! Too slow this time, turtle-tike. You ain't never gonna catch me like that again!"

The smoke bombs hit Leo straight in the face and exploded into a cloud of choking, blinding powder. It really didn't help Leonardo's mood regarding Donatello. Coughing and spluttering, he rubbed at his reddened eyes and tried to blink his vision back into focus.

He heard a pained yell from Raph and through the haze saw the huge form of Rocksteady swing his brother by his ankle before throwing him into a nearby dumpster. The motion triggered the lid to slam down shut on top of the unfortunate turtle, but the infuriated yell that came from within indicated that Raphael wasn't in too much trouble.

"Yo, let's go, y'all!" Bebop's voice prompted, as he finished up by whacking Donnie to the ground and leapt into the van.

"Later, turtlez." Rocksteady snorted, turning to pound over and jump into the vehicle himself. As his door slammed, the van sped off and left the turtles coughing in a cloud of exhaust fumes.

Taking a few moments more to recover, Leonardo gave his bloodshot eyes one final rub then took in the scene around himself. Nearby, Raphael threw back the lid of the dumpster and vaulted out, pausing to pick trash off himself before limping back over to the group. Meanwhile, Donatello sat back on his heels and rubbed his shoulder.

Close by stood Michelangelo, having exited the van just in time before Bebop and Rocksteady made their escape. In his arms, he held one of the boxes that Leonardo had sighted.

"Well, that was embarrassing." concluded Mikey. "If anyone asks let's just say we won, ok dudes?"

Raphael grimaced as he approached. "Yeah. Fine by me."

Sheathing his swords and climbing back to his feet, Leonardo sighed. "Well, at least we got one of the boxes!"

"Good job, _Mikey_." he then emphasised, with a sideways glare at his insubordinate brother, "Let's open it up and see what Shredder is up to."

Obligingly, Michelangelo set the box down so that Raph could prise it open with a sai. As the lid was lifted away, they all peered to see what lay inside. There, perfectly smooth and oval, lay an oversized egg. It nestled within insulating and protective packaging material.

Mikey blinked. "An egg? It's huge! Does Shredder want the world's largest omelette, or something?"

"Oh great, not this again." groaned Leo, mentally recalling the last time they had come across an egg like this. The resultant giant wasps and the associated mind controlling hadn't gone well.

He drew one of his blades, intending to put a stop to things right away. "Stand back everyone."

"Wait, wait!" Mikey protested. "Look…"

Reaching out, he picked up the egg and held it up to a nearby street lamp. The light illuminated an eerie silhouette of the unborn creature within.

"Is that… A turtle?" Raphael asked, doubtfully.

"A mutant turtle!" Donnie confirmed, in shock.

Leo frowned doubtfully. "But, that's impossible. Isn't it?"

"Whatever you say, Leo." Donatello snarked. He clearly had several ideas of how it might be possible, but was not currently prepared to voice them.

"We can't destroy it." Mikey implored, giving the egg a cuddle. "It might be family."

With a frustrated sigh, Leo pressed his fingers to his head. "Fine, whatever. Bring it back to the lair while we figure out what to do."

Raph frowned. "Leo, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No, I'm not." Leonardo said, irritated, "But since the pubescent professor doesn't feel like helping, the rest us are going to need more time to figure this out."

"Hey!" protested Donnie.

Raphael groaned. "Seriously guys, cut it out already. Before I knock you both out of your shells."

"But you said that was impos-" started Mikey.

"We're going!" snapped Raph, turning to limp towards the nearest manhole cover.

"I'm the leader, I say when we're going." Leo protested.

Donatello barely hesitated before glaring at Leonardo and moving off. "Lead on, _Raphael_." he said, putting his arm around his shorter brother and helping him take some of the weight off his injured leg.

Mikey dithered a moment, glancing between the warring factions. Carefully putting the egg back where it came from, he picked up the box and turned to Leo. "C'mon, Bro."

With no small degree of reluctance, Leo moved to follow the group. He had a bad feeling about that egg. If it was part of Shredder's plan, then it couldn't be anything good.


	7. Chapter 7: Instant expert

**CHAPTER 7**

 **Instant expert**

Raphael sat on the makeshift couch in the lair, his leg elevated and an icepack sat on top of it. It smarted a little, especially if he tried to walk on it or wiggle his toes, but didn't feel like anything too serious. He hated pandering to injuries, but bitter experience had taught him that it was best to rest while he could or risk worsening the damage and being laid up for even longer.

Nearby, Michelangelo was chattering inanely away at the mutant turtle egg that they'd manage to swipe from the bad guys, while Donatello had disappeared into his laboratory soon after they'd arrived back at the lair. With him, he'd taken several samples from the oversized ovum.

Leonardo headed over with the first aid kit. He was calmer now than he had been on the rooftop during his quarrel with Donnie and seemingly back to his usual, level headed self.

"How's it feeling, Raph?" he asked, pulling out a bandage and reaching for the injury.

"It'll be fine." Raphael replied, nonchalantly. "It's only a sprain."

Leo nodded and set about binding his ankle. "Well, take it easy for a bit."

"So, what are we going to do about Mikey's new friend?" Raph asked, nodding towards the egg.

Leonardo sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. Hopefully Donnie will be able to tell us more."

"Assuming he's talking to you."

Leo scowled, tying the bandage off a little roughly. "Yeah. Assuming he's talking to me."

Raph winced slightly before continuing. "Well, you did put your foot in it during your little chat together."

"You were listening?"

"The whole time."

Leo sighed again. "I just thought… Rgh. Maybe you're right. Maybe he's right. Maybe I am just hypocritical."

"Yeah, you are." Raphael agreed, helpfully. "But he did overreact. And watching either of you brooding over a girl gets seriously annoying."

"Heh, guess so." conceded Leo, glancing guiltily away.

Nearby, Michelangelo concluded his one-sided conversation with the egg and turned towards them. "So, where do you think Eggy came from?" he asked, curiously.

"The bad guys, obviously." Raph pointed out.

"No, I mean… Shouldn't it have a Mom? And a Dad?"

Leo looked thoughtful. "He has a point. Even if it was artificially created, it would still have needed parents, right?"

"Wouldn't it be wild if it was one of us?" Mikey grinned.

"That's impossible." Leonardo stated. "For a start, there are no female mutant turtles. And besides, none of us… Um…"

"Oh?" said Raph, smirking as he raised an eyebrow.

Mikey tilted his head innocently. "What?"

"Nothing." Leo said, quickly glossing over the matter.

Michelangelo caressed the egg gently. "So where's your Mommy and Daddy?"

"I can answer that." came Donatello's voice, as he headed out of his lab with his laptop.

"It's Splinter, right?" Mikey guessed, excitedly. "We're getting a new little brother or sister?"

"How could it possibly be Splinter, you idiot?" asked Raphael. "He's a mutant rat!"

"But we're mutant turtles, and we're his sons." Mikey said, baffled. "Or, most of us are."

Donatello shot Michelangelo a dirty look, as Raphael shuffled up slightly to allow the tallest turtle to perch on the couch and set his laptop up on his knee.

"Technically he's right," Donnie conceded, as Mikey performed a victory dance in the background, "in our cases. But for the egg, definitely not."

Mikey's dance faltered. "Well, then who are the parents? Is it April? Casey? Shredder?"

"No, to all of them."

"Rahzar? Fishface? Buzzkill? Rocksteady? Bebop? Tigerclaw? Purple Dragons? Dr. Rockwell? Pigeon Pete? Leatherhead?"

Leo frowned. "You're just working through everyone we know, aren't you?"

"Oh!" Mikey exclaimed, hitting his palm with the side of one fist. "I got it! It's Slash, right? He's a mutant turtle."

Donatello looked mildly impressed. "Actually, that one was close. Very close."

"Come oooon," wheedled Mikey, "tell meee! I can't take the suspense, Dude!"

"Perhaps if you shut up for a second, he would." snarked Raphael.

"It's Raphael."

"Finally." Raph said, before the statement caught up with him. "Wait, what? No! That's impossible. I've never-"

"Oh?" echoed Leo, starting to chuckle.

Raphael growled, sitting up in order to wave a threatening fist in Leonardo's direction.

"Aww, Raph's gonna be a Daddy!" beamed Michelangelo, laughing along with Leonardo.

"Actually-" started Donatello, but was cut off by the inevitable explosion.

"SHUT IT! No I'm not!" thundered Raphael, jumping to his feet and regretting it as his ankle complained bitterly. He ignored the pain in favour of lunging for his sniggering brothers.

Leo dodged, but it was easy enough for Raph to batter Mikey to the floor. Caught between whining and giggling, his youngest brother rolled from side to side.

"Hey-" Donnie tried again, but was drowned out as Raph's second swipe at Leo was successful. The two crashed to the ground and started a noisy brawl.

"I am going to rip that smirk off your face and stuff it up your-" Raphael swore furiously, but was cut off by the abrupt voice of Splinter.

"Yame!"

That brought all of the turtles to an immediate halt. Or, it nearly did. Raphael couldn't resist smacking Leonardo's head into the ground one final time, much to his brother's protestation.

"The way of the ninja is silence." Splinter scolded, "So why do I hear so much of you all?"

"S-sorry, Sensei." apologised Leo, ever the obedient one, as he grimaced and put a hand to his forehead where it had connected with the floor.

"But Sensei!" chattered Mikey, bouncing excitedly back to his feet. "Raph's gonna be a daddy and we're going to be uncles and you get to be a grandfather, dawg! I mean, rat! I mean… Sensei. Dude."

There was a brief silence where the other three stared, wide-eyed, at Michelangelo and his big mouth. Meanwhile, Splinter looked momentarily at the oversized egg before turning back to them with fire in his eyes.

"RAPHAEL!" he boomed, causing all four of the teenagers to cringe.

Raph quickly scrambled to his feet. "No! Sensei, it's not what you think! There's been some kind of mistake-"

Splinter drew himself to his full height, managing the most fatherly expression of displeasure that he could muster. "So I can see. I believe that it is time I had _the talk_ with you boys."

"No offence, Sensei." said Leonardo, getting back to his feet and brushing himself off, "But isn't it a little late for that? I mean, we already-"

"Sensei, that's really not necessary. It's actually very simple, I-" Donatello started up simultaneously.

The two brothers paused to glare at each other as their words unintentionally crossed, before falling uncertainly silent at they abruptly noticed the furious look Splinter was giving them.

"You both as well?" he exclaimed, exasperatedly.

Mikey, meanwhile, mostly looked bemused. "Uh… What are we talking about?"

"Shugo! Seiza!" barked Splinter. "Itte!"

There was a flurry of motion as all four of the turtles hastily scrambled to follow the instructions. The orders were so familiar that it was virtually a reflexive action for them to quickly form a line before kneeling down obediently and waiting in silence.

Splinter paced before them, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Now, how do I begin…"

"Don't." implored Raphael. "Please!"

"Is this a story?" Mikey asked, "I love stories!"

"Yes, Michelangelo." agreed Splinter. "A story is a good place to start. You see, there comes a time in every young person's life when they begin to feel a stirring within them…"

The youngest turtle nodded in agreement. "I get that feeling every time I'm hungry."

"That's not what he's talking about, Mikey!" Leo berated.

"Since I'm obviously the expert and know everything already, can I leave?" begged Raphael, gesturing to the egg as his evidence.

Splinter scowled at him. "No! Silence!"

"It's a clone!" Donatello finally spat out. "THE EGG IS A CLONE!"

There were several moments of quiet while everyone digested that nugget of information.

"A… Clone?" Raphael spluttered.

Donnie nodded, following up with his explanation. "Stockman must have obtained a sample of your DNA and he's used it to create a copy. It really is quite fascinating, as from traces remaining on the shell they seem to have managed to create an artificial amniotic fluid in order to facilitate the initial stages of embryonic formation prior to-"

Raph performed the movement that everyone was waiting for and clipped his verbose brother across the back of the head.

"Ow!" Don protested, before explaining in simpler terms. "It was made in a lab, ok?!"

"Too bad, _expert._ " Leo hissed to Raph, earning him a punch in the arm.

"This is very troubling." Splinter said, worry evident on his features.

Donatello nodded in agreement. "They've even found a way to accelerate the growth of the clone. That egg is only a few days old, but it's ready to hatch at any moment. By my calculations, it should reach adulthood within a few weeks."

"But how did they get my…my…" demanded Raphael, still infuriated.

"Your DNA?" offered Donnie. "Well, it's in all of our cells. All they'd need is something from you. A fingernail, some skin, or blood…"

"Stockman got my mask." Raphael recalled.

"That would do it." Don agreed. "There are bound to be skin cells in the material that have rubbed off."

Mikey wrinkled his nose. "Gross! That's what you get for wearing a tatty old one, Dude."

Meanwhile, Leonardo brushed his fingers on his arm where he'd been cut. "They've got my DNA too." he realised aloud.

"Would there be skin and stuff on a band aid?" Michelangelo then asked, before sighing as he received an affirmative. "Aw, snap."

"At least they don't have mine!" Donnie stated, cheerfully.

Leo looked over. "That depends. Is there DNA in puke?"

Donatello scowled. "Great. They have mine too."

"So they're building up an army of… Us?" Raph suggested.

"This is very serious." Splinter stated. "It is imperative that you stop them from creating more! For ethical reasons, at the very least. Robots are one thing, but this…"

"Since when did bad guys care about ethics?" asked Don.

Leonardo considered for a moment before deciding on a course of action. "Mikey, Donnie and I will head back out and see what else we can find."

"What about me?" asked Raph, getting back to his feet.

"You're hurt." Leo pointed out. "Stay here and watch the egg."

"I am not babysitting the egg!" Raph yelled.

"Why not, dude?" asked Michelangelo. "If it's another Raph then you're totally the best person to-"

"Wait. Another Raph. We have _another Raph_ here?!" Mikey turned to the others in panic. "We need to leave, Dudes! We gotta get out of the city, now!"

"Very funny, Mikey." glowered Raphael.

Leo raised a hand to wave as he headed for the exit, shepherding the other two. "Have fun. We'll be back soon."

"Wait, no!" protested the abandoned turtle, but they'd already gone. He growled angrily for a few moments, before realising that he still had some help present.

"Sensei! You know about these things, you'll look after the egg, right?" he asked, hopefully.

Splinter smiled kindly. "No."

"What? Why?!"

"Because you are the expert, Raphael." he said, walking away.

The turtle roared with anger then turned furiously on the hapless egg. He was just in time to see it wobble, then a tiny crack form on the surface. In painfully slow motion the crack crept down the side, widening and branching out as the surface of the shell began to split apart.

Raphael recoiled with a gasp of horror, his eyes widening in alarm.

"No! No no no no no!"


	8. Chapter 8: Big break

**CHAPTER 8**

 **Big break**

With skilful precision, Donatello coupled his T-Phone into the access panel beside the door to the premises. After just a few seconds he was connected to the systems controlling the building then, tapping away on the device, he found the program he'd written and loaded it up. Keying in the necessary variables for the lock in question, he let his software work its magic.

It gave him no small amount of satisfaction to watch it whizz through all the possible key code combinations before it came up with a winner. It was encrypted, naturally, but breaking through that and then recoding the commands he wished to enter was a cinch.

With another tap, he sent the amended instructions to the system. There was a moment or two where nothing seemed to happen, then the flickering red light switched to static green as he overrode the console and deactivated not only the locks but also the alarms.

Finally, with marginally more effort, he disabled the closed circuit camera system and took a copy of the files from the previous night to put into the folder structure. Just in case anyone should happen to go digging through the file system for the videos.

"Aaand… We're in." Donnie said, with a degree of pride in his abilities. "Alarms are down and cameras are showing last night's feed."

Mikey grinned. "Awesome, D!"

"Like a turtle do!"

"All right, let's go." Leonardo dictated, ever focused on the task at hand.

Testing the door, it opened easily and the leader slipped into the building. Donatello followed, with Michelangelo bringing up the rear.

Once inside, they were initially faced with what looked to be an everyday receptionist desk, of the sort you might find in any corporate building. The area was overly grey with bland, inoffensive décor. A couple of uncomfortable looking chairs for waiting visitors were sat nearby, while a water cooler gurgled invitingly and an oversized pot plant wilted gently.

Given it was the middle of the night, the reception was unsurprisingly unmanned. Despite that, the turtles hesitated for several moments, ensuring that there was no sound or movement to suggest that anyone was lurking within the building apart from themselves.

"It doesn't seem like Bebop and Rocksteady are here." Leo whispered, moving stealthily forwards and sticking to the shadows.

Mikey, less cautious, walked openly to the next doorway. "Dude! There's like, an awesome secret lab through here!"

"It's not that secret, Mikey."

"It was." Mikey pointed out, before concluding dramatically, "Until now!"

"No it…" started Leo, before conceding the point. "Ok, fine. I guess it was a secret from us."

As a group, they moved through into the body of the laboratory. Donnie's eyes widened as he gazed around at all the equipment.

"This is… This is amazing!" he gushed, abandoning stealth in favour of rushing over to paw at several contraptions set out on a surface nearby. "A bio mixer, and a top loading vortex balance!"

"Yeah!" Michelangelo agreed, though his confused expression betrayed the fact that he had no idea what had just been described. Regardless, he pointed enthusiastically at a huge device next to where he was standing. "And what's this one?"

"That's a fridge, Mikey."

"Oh. Well, it's awesome!"

"Stop messing about." Leonardo chided. "We're here to find out what they're doing, and how to shut it down."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your mask in a knot, Leo." Donnie muttered, sliding into an operators chair and scooting across the floor to one of the computer terminals.

This was his bread and butter. For once there seemed to be no immediate time pressure and, better yet, no battle raging around him. Cracking his knuckles, he booted up the system and started hacking in to give himself permissions for the information databases.

Pulling a flash drive out, Donatello plugged it into the station. First thing he did was to download a copy of the data, so whatever he didn't get chance to process or gain access to straight away he'd be able to analyse back at the lair. Naturally, while this was happening, he went and amended the access and audit logs to ensure his activities couldn't be tracked.

Meanwhile, Leonardo and Michelangelo prowled round the rest of the lab, seeing what else could be found that might offer more clues about exactly what Shredder was trying to do this time.

It was Mikey that made the next discovery, calling out excitedly as he did.

"I found another egg!"

Leonardo straightened from where he had been searching a series of cupboards. "Bring it over."

Donatello only briefly glanced up from the computer terminal, vaguely listening to the conversation but mostly letting the two of them enjoy their discovery for now while he worked within his element.

"It looks like another mutant turtle!" Mikey declared, holding the egg up to the light and gazing at the hazy silhouette inside. "I hope it's me!"

"Having my own clone would be too awesome, dudes. I would be beside myself! We'd be best friends, and I could make it do all my chores!"

"Well, you're in luck." Donnie confirmed. Having finished his initial processing, he reached over to scan the serial code on the box Mikey brought over and compare it to the information on the computer. "It does, indeed, have your DNA."

"Sweet!"

"And Leo's."

Leonardo looked up in confusion. "Huh?"

"It's some kind of hybrid." Donatello continued, his mismatched eyes flicking left and right as he quickly skimmed through the information. "Made from a combination of DNA from both of you."

"You can be the Mom." Mikey whispered to Leo.

"What? No way!"

Donnie then came to the critical information at the bottom of the report he was working through. "Oh wait. No, never mind. It failed, the egg is a dud."

"Ooaaww!" complained Mikey.

"It looks like that's what they've been trying to do. Splice all of our DNA together to create a… Super mutant turtle! With my height, Raph's build, Mikey's agility and Leo's… Uh…"

As Donatello faltered, Leonardo fixed him with a defiant look. Michelangelo meanwhile was waiting with fascinated expectancy, eager to find out what genetic element of his eldest brother that the enemies would want to replicate.

Caught between wanting to irritate one brother but not wanting to upset the other, Donnie eventually went with, "Face. Leo's face."

"My face?" Leo repeated, incredulously.

"Aww, dude, they like your face!" Mikey beamed.

Donnie shook his head. "They haven't succeeded. The set we saw earlier were the first batch they managed to successfully produce, which are straight clones. The hybrids have all failed."

"Lucky for us. Let's shut this place down, before they make any more." decreed Leonardo.

"But all the equipment…" Donatello lamented.

Michelangelo was significantly more excited. "We get to break stuff?"

"No." said Leo. "We don't break stuff. We, er… Well, actually, yeah. In this case, let's break stuff."

"Woohoo!"

Donnie quickly stood. "Wait, we just need to destroy the samples and wipe the computer systems."

"So where are the samples?"

He pointed. "They'll be in the fridge."

"I _knew_ the fridge was important." Mikey gloated.

Then, suddenly, all of them heard it. The familiar electronic squeak of a Foot-bot after it sighted a target and was readying to attack.

They all spun round to face where several of the robotic creatures were peering in from the window. Another squeak alerted them to several more blocking the doorway through which they came.

"Looks like you didn't shut things down quite as well as you thought, Genius." Leonardo snarked at Donatello.

It was more likely to be that Bebop and Rocksteady had reported the earlier encounter and the robotic goons had been sent out to make sure the turtles didn't return. But Donnie didn't get a chance to expound his hypothesis before the robots launched their attack, brandishing their haphazard selection of ninja weapons and corrupted alternatives threateningly.

As Leonardo drew his blades and leapt straight into the fray, Donatello darted back to the computer terminal where he'd been working to finish what he'd begun. Yet again, he realised agitatedly, he was coding under pressure.

Michelangelo meanwhile waited for the Foot-bots to bring the fight to him. "You wanna see a magic trick?" he asked, grinning.

As the first one arrived, he neatly opened the fridge and kicked the unfortunate robot into it, slamming the door. Grabbing a nearby handful of test tube tongs, clamps and stands he then animatedly stabbed them into the sides and the door of the fridge, in a variety of different places, before stepping back to admire his handiwork.

"And now," boasted Mikey, "As you can see, my lovely assistant is…"

As he opened the fridge, the samples and several chunks of the impaled robot dropped messily onto the floor.

"Completely destroyed!"

"Nice work!" Leonardo acknowledged, leaping in and cutting two of the Foot-bots in half with a whirling blow.

At the computer terminal, Donnie unplugged his flash drive and hit the final combination of keys to trigger a complete reformat of the system. The screen flickered a few times, then advised that all the data was deleted.

"No more data, either." he called.

Leo raced by. "About time!"

"Hey, where's _my_ respect?" Donnie complained, smacking an approaching Foot-bot to the other side of the room with his bo staff.

Mikey bounced over. "You definitely showed that computer who the boss was, Dude!"

"Darn right."

"I could use a little help here!" Leonardo called from the other side of the room, as he picked up the bio mixer and brought it down onto a robotic head, with terminal consequences for both the mechanical foe and the apparatus.

"Ahh!" Donnie wailed, "I could have used that…"

"Could you use this?" asked Michelangelo, picking up another piece of equipment from the nearby workbench.

"Yes."

"And this?"

"Definitely."

"What about this one?"

"I've wanted one of those forever!"

Mikey growled in frustration. "Dude, what _can_ I use?"

Donnie looked around. "The chair. Hit them with the chair."

As instructed, Michelangelo picked up the operators chair and flung it into several charging Foot-bots.

"We don't have time for you to go shopping, Donnie!" Leo snapped, as more Foot-bots piled through the door.

"Especially now the building is on fire." Mikey added, gesturing to where flames were starting to flicker on the far side of the room following an electrical spark. It quickly gained momentum as it caught several lab coats hanging nearby.

Donatello's eyes widened as he took in the canisters of propane stacked slightly further along the wall, presumably to provide fuel for the Bunsen burners. "Yeah, time to go!"

There was a mad scramble as the three of them bolted for the exit. They left the building with all possible haste and had barely reached the far side of the road before the first explosion rocked the laboratory and sent a rippling shockwave across the area.

"Looks like we broke everything after all." Mikey said, watching the carnage and flinching as a second explosion added to it.

Leo nodded. "Let's just hope it means they can't keep trying to clone us."

"There's likely to be an offsite backup of the data somewhere." Donnie explained. "And they still have the clones that they escaped with. Assuming they hatch successfully, the DNA is right there."

"Great. Just great."

"At least they don't have the Raph clone!" Michelangelo chipped in, optimistically.

Unless they made more than one, Donatello contemplated. Given Leonardo's mood, he decided it was probably best not to voice the thought. However, curling his fingers tighter around the flash drive, he made a mental note to check later just how many of each clone had been made.

"Speaking of Raphael, we should get back to the lair and see how he's doing." Leonardo decided.

In the distance, sirens could be heard.

"Ninja vanish?" Mikey asked Leo, reaching eagerly for a smoke bomb.

"Ninja vanish." the leader confirmed.

By the time the emergency services arrived, there was no trace of them remaining aside from the broken remnants of the smoke bomb shell on the sidewalk.


	9. Chapter 9: Mass explosions

**CHAPTER 9**

 **Mass explosions**

"Whoa!" Leonardo gasped, as he vaulted over the disused turnpikes and headed into the midst of the lair. "What happened?"

It hadn't exactly been tidy when they'd left, but now it looked like a whirlwind had torn through the area and scattered everything in its midst. Yet for all the strewn possessions and scattered food, the core furniture was still intact and in position.

That, along with the lack of actual carnage, relaxed Leo from his initial worry that there had been an attack launched in their absence. Instead it looked more like someone had been on a messy rampage.

Michelangelo quickly raised his hands, anticipating the usual blame target in such circumstances. "I swear, it wasn't me!"

"Of course it wasn't you. You were with us the whole time."

Donatello turned conspiratorially to his youngest brother. "Do you think Raphael literally exploded this time?" he joked.

"Mm… It's entirely possible." Mikey deduced.

Ignoring the other two, Leo headed over to the midst of the mess. There, he frowned slightly as he caught sight of the magazine he'd only gotten half way through reading earlier. He reached over to pick it up, but quickly dropped it again.

"Ugh, it's all wet! And… Eww-!"

"Unless he's experiencing an extreme regression, I doubt this was Raph." Donatello reasoned, peering at the squiggly doodles all over the case of his laptop. He then scowled as he opened the device up and found the remains of a slice of pizza squashed inside.

"Guys!" called Michelangelo. "Look…"

He was pointing at the box where the egg they rescued earlier had been nestled. Instead, there was now just pieces of broken shell.

"It hatched!" Donnie exclaimed, setting his laptop down and walking over to pick up some of the pieces. "Amazing… I wish I'd been here to see it."

"I guess we know the culprit of the mess, then." Leonardo deduced, before failing to resist the temptation to rub the facts in Donatello's face. "It _was_ Raph after all."

"Yeah, but not _our_ Raph." Donnie retorted.

Mikey looked around the room again, then gasped. "Dudes! We had it all wrong. I've just worked out what Shredder's master plan is."

"Oh?" prompted Leo, though he didn't anticipate his brother's deduction to be particularly credible.

"He _wanted_ us to find the egg, and for us to bring it home." Michelangelo clarified, worriedly. "He's released into our midst… A weapon of mass distraction!"

Donatello face palmed. "Seriously?"

"So where's Raph and, er, Raph two?" asked Mikey, looking around.

"Split up. Find them." instructed Leo.

Raph!" called Mikey, setting off towards the bedrooms. "Raphael! Where are you, Bro?"

Donnie predictably turned to head into his lab.

That left the dojo for Leonardo to investigate. Heading there, he was relieved to find the tree unblemished and in perfect health, the rugs covering the floor were spotless and the paper screens pristine as always. The mess seemed to be isolated to the living area.

On the far side of the room, the ornately decorated panels leading to Splinter's room were ajar. Leo crept closer, nudging the door back further and peering to see whether Raph was inside. He wasn't, but their master was sat quietly meditating.

At the disturbance Splinter opened one eye to glare at Leonardo, who quickly recoiled and bowed apologetically, sliding the door closed again as he did. He turned to head back to the living area, but was stopped as Michelangelo appeared breathlessly in front of him.

"Dude, come quickly!" he called urgently. "I found Raph!"

Leo's heart worriedly skipped a beat. "What happened? Is he ok?"

"Come on!" Mikey yelled, turning and racing away.

By the time Leonardo reached the landing outside their bedrooms, Donatello had also been summoned and was looking around in concern and confusion.

"Mikey, what's the problem?" Leo asked.

Michelangelo put his finger to his lips. "Shh! This way, Dudes."

He crept over towards Raph's room, then carefully reached out and pushed the door open for them. Leo shared a brief, uncertain glance with his other brother before they both leant in for a better view.

Raphael was asleep on his bed, completely unharmed save the same bandage on his ankle that had been there previously. However laying on top of his plastron, rising and falling with his breathing, was cuddled what could only be described as his miniature.

Looking to be roughly the age of a toddler, the small mutant turtle was sucking its thumb with one hand, while the other hand was wrapped tightly around one of the trailing ties from Raphael's mask.

"They're so cuuute!" gushed Michelangelo, keeping his voice quiet as he hopped excitedly from foot to foot.

Wordlessly, Donatello pulled out his T-phone and snapped a picture.

"What are you doing?!" Leo hissed, as the flash went off.

Whether it was due to the light or the noise was unclear, but Raph's eyes flew open. His gaze snapped to the doorway, where Leo and Don were instantly caught as spectators. They both hastily retreated, anticipating an explosion of proportions that only the most hot headed turtle could manage.

But it didn't come. Instead, Raphael slowly and carefully slid his sleeping miniature off his chest and onto the bed, taking pains to disentangle the small fingers from his mask as he did so. Standing, he then stealthily padded over to the doorway.

Silence continued as Raph cautiously closed the bedroom door, before being suddenly broken as he finally whirled on his brothers in fury.

"YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE SUCKING PIZZA THROUGH A STRAW!" he roared, launching himself at them.

Leonardo abruptly turned to flee, but ran smack into Donatello as the other tried to do the same thing. Losing precious escape time bouncing off one another gave Raphael all the opportunity he needed to reach them and begin a no holds barred beat down.

* * *

"Aww, he's adorable!" gushed April, "So this is what Raphael looked like as a kid?"

"We were all pretty adorable, April." Donnie volunteered. "Some of us still are."

It was the following evening after the mutant turtle egg had hatched, and all five of the mutant turtles were sat around in the living area of the lair with April and Casey. Two of them looked a bit bruised and battered.

"Yeah, aside from a few missing scars Raph looked exactly like that." Leonardo confirmed, before following up with, "But apart from looks, that _thing_ is completely different."

"It's fascinating." Donatello said meanwhile, tapping away at his laptop. "Far as I can tell, tampering with the growth has had a detrimental effect on egocentrism and automatous thought."

Casey grinned. "Surely reducing Raph's ego can only be a good thing?"

"Yeah, like you're one to talk!" Raph retorted.

Throughout all of this, the young mutant turtle just sat there, head tilted slightly and wide green eyes staring distantly into space. As far as Leo had observed it was either in this placid state, as if awaiting instructions, or it was running around wildly with little indication of rational thought.

The thing was just creepy. It wasn't helped by the fact that, despite being less than a day old, it looked to be an equivalent of about 4 or 5 seemed to be physically aging even as they watched.

"Hey, little fella." April greeted, crouching down to smile at the child. "I'm April!"

When she didn't get a response, Michelangelo piped up; "He doesn't talk much."

"It doesn't talk at all." Leonardo snapped. They were all getting too attached to the thing and he had a feeling in his gut that it was not going to end well.

"Oh. Well, that's ok!" April beamed. "Maybe he's the strong, silent type."

"You got that right." Raphael agreed, approvingly. "I'm going to train him to fight. Then we can go on missions together. Me, and Junior."

"Junior?" Leo repeated, incredulously. "You gave it a name?"

"Technically he shared his own." Donnie pointed out, earning him a glower.

"C'mon." Raph then called, beckoning his miniature. "Let's get started!"

Like a puppy, the child jumped up and followed after as Raphael headed for the dojo.

"Aww, they seem really close." April said with a smile, watching them go.

Donatello looked up. "I have a hypothesis on that." he explained. "Raphael was the only one here when the egg hatched. I think Junior has imprinted him as his mother."

Casey grinned widely. "Dude, that's awesome! Mommy Raph."

"Well, I think it's sweet." April interjected.

"I agree with April!" Donatello quickly stated.

Mikey looked confused. "That's not what you were saying earl- Ow! Watch where you're kicking, dude!"

"I didn't kick you." Donnie stated, a picture of innocence.

"Yeah…" Leonardo said slowly, before taking a deep breath as he reached a decision that he knew his brother was not going to be happy with. "April, there's something Donatello needs to tell you."

His brother nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've been running some scripts to process the data we found yesterday and I'd like your help to concatenate the-"

"That's _not_ what I'm talking about." Leo said pointedly, cutting Don off.

Donatello hesitated, a look of alarm manifesting in his mismatched eyes.

"April." Leonardo started, turning to her. "There's a reason his eye changed colour. Something happened, that night when Donnie was accidentally de-mutated and we had to use the mutagen to turn him back…"

The turtle in question jumped to his feet in panic. "No, don't! Don't tell her!"

Heedless, Leo pressed on. "When he was re-mutated, there were changes to his DNA. Rather than being genetically related to Splinter…"

"Leo! _Please_!" Donnie begged, heartbreakingly.

"He's now genetically related to the person who touched him last…"

Hardening his heart to Donnie's pleas, Leo concluded; "You."

April's eyes widened.

"You're like Mom and Son, or Sister and Brother!" Mikey helpfully explained.

There was a splutter as Casey snorted with laughter and simultaneously began a victory dance of epic proportion. "Nice work, D! Own goal from the mutant freak… Casey Jones wins!"

Donatello's eyes flicked over to Casey, then Leo, then back to April as a turbulent array of emotions flickered across his features. There were traces of anger and frustration, combined with a significant degree of humiliation.

However, at the forefront was clearly hurt and distress, something which left Leonardo with a substantial pang of guilt. But he clung to the fact that he'd done what was needed, and in time hopefully his brother would come to forgive him and see that it was for the best.

"Donnie…" April started sympathetically, stepping towards the traumatised turtle.

But Donatello backed away in stricken alarm. "No! No, I don't want to hear it! Don't say it!"

April hesitated, confused, which just served to upset the teenager more. Especially as, in the background, Casey was still laughing in glee. With a whimper, Donnie turned and fled to his lab, slamming the door shut behind himself.

Casey finally sobered at this, realising that the level of upset in the situation. Both Mikey and April moved to follow Donnie, but Leo reached out to stop them, shaking his head. "Give him some time."

"Ugh, this would have been easier if he'd just told you himself." he then lamented. "What an idiot."

"Dude, not cool." Mikey said, pouting. "He was really upset!"

"He's had plenty of time to speak up." Leonardo pointed out, ruthlessly.

Michelangelo looked towards the lab. "Yeah, but…"

Suddenly, the door flew open again and Donatello rushed back out. In one hand he was brandishing a beaker that seemed to contain mutagen. "Raphael!" he cried. "We need to stop him, before-"

"Whoa, shortest sulk ever, Dude!" Mikey said, impressed.

From the dojo there suddenly came a wet sounding explosion, which was followed by poignant silence. While Leonardo looked at the others in confusion, Donatello paled slightly.

"Oh no…"

All of them hurried to the dojo, where they were greeted with a scene of devastation. To the edge of the room Raph was stood in shock, sais drawn in unused anticipation at his sides. On the far side, a messy puddle of mutagen splattered out in all directions. It was miraculous that Raphael had not been hit, as everywhere else in the near vicinity seemed to be.

Donnie exhaled. "Raph's ok… Thank goodness."

"I… I'm ok?" Raph repeated, turning to the group. There was a dangerous, unhinged edge to his voice.

"What about Junior? Where's Junior?"

Donatello grimaced. "As far as I can hypothesise from the available evidence, the mutagenic compound they used in the emulation meant that he was structurally unstable. Consequentially, when exposed to strain the bonds holding the form together collapsed and the clone forcefully reverted to original substance."

"ENGLISH!"

"He exploded. Into mutagen." Donnie summarised, hesitantly.

Raphael stepped over, shaking with rage. "Bring. Him. Back."

"I… I can't. He's gone."

A tense few sections of silence passed, with Raph's intense green eyes staring in a mixture of disbelief, horror and shock.

"It was just a clone. Maybe it's better this way." Leo said, consolingly.

It was evidently the wrong thing to say, as Raphael's eyes bulged furiously. "Just a clone? JUST A CLONE?!"

Leonardo could feel the others glaring at him.

"You KNEW this was going to happen?!" Raph said, turning suddenly on Donatello.

"I only just realised. Dude, I'm sorry…"

Raphael roared furiously. "Maybe if you'd spent less time messing around and figured it out sooner, we could have DONE SOMETHING!"

Donatello, evidently still tender from his abject humiliation just a few minutes previously, recoiled as if slapped. "Raph, Bro, there was nothing we could have-"

Leonardo stepped in, putting himself between his two brothers. "All right fellas, that's enough."

He wasn't expecting it to be Donnie shoving him out of the way. "BACK OFF, Lame-onardo! Haven't you helped enough today?"

"Ooh, burn." Mikey murmured, from where he was spectating at a safe distance with April and Casey.

"I've never seen them fight like this." Casey said, watching in morbid fascination.

"It'll be ok." Michelangelo explained. "Sensei will come and shout at them to be quiet in a minute."

"I don't think more shouting will help this time." Splinter said from behind Mikey's shoulder, causing the turtle to jump. "This is something that they would be best to let out of their systems."

"But, Sensei…" April objected. Before she could continue, the yelling and shoving on the other side of the room seemed to be reaching some form of climax and threatening to degenerate into an all-out brawl.

"-acting like a pair of big BABIES-!" Leo was yelling, his injured voice gravelly. He threw his arms up in frustration, batting both of the others in the process. "-never listen - been trying to help - but NOOOO…"

From Donnie, in hysterical tones, there was, "-there was no WAY I could possibly-!" then followed with "-you just don't care about ANYONE except yourself-!" as he used his advantageous height to loom over the others.

The remaining turtle's irate ranting was even less intelligible and sprinkled with colourful expletives that caused Splinter to frown disapprovingly.

Eventually Raphael was the first one to snap completely, as he suddenly shoved both his brothers roughly to the floor with foot and fist before storming dramatically from the room and out of the lair with the unstoppable force of a juggernaut.

With a frustrated glance at Leo, Donnie jumped to his feet then promptly turned and stalked back to his laboratory. For the second time in half an hour, he slammed the door behind himself.

The last remaining, Leo stood and stared angrily after his disappearing brothers for several moments. His chest was heaving with barely contained fury and his fingers curled into a fist so tight his knuckles were whitening.

"I'm… Going out." Leonardo seethed to the others, feeling heated rage bubbling dangerously beneath his skin and battling frantically not to take it out on them or any inanimate part of the lair.

With that he abruptly turned towards the garage. He dropped down onto the disused railway lines and strode furiously alongside the tracks without looking back.


	10. Chapter 10: Food for thought

**CHAPTER 10**

 **Food for thought**

Stockman pushed open the doorway, allowing The Shredder to see into the room beyond. It had taken several attempts to get this far, but the mutant turtle clones were finally fully grown. Each type was sat in different areas of the room, fixated on monitors positioned before them.

It was a relief to see them all there, exactly where he'd left them. The tendency for the molecular structure to break down had proven exceptionally difficult to overcome, but had finally been brought under control as long as the clones regularly received a carefully manufactured protein that kept their cells tightly bonded.

It wasn't an ideal solution and when put under pressure the cloned creatures still had an unfortunate tendency to explode. Yet it made for an unexpected back up plan, as even if their stability failed they could potentially still succeed in their ultimate goal by becoming an unwitting mutagenic bomb. At least now they were stable enough to stand a good chance of reaching their targets first.

On the monitors was all the footage that had been gathered of the original mutant turtles, particularly when involved in battle. Each type of clone was focused on learning the traits of their DNA donor, in order to replicate their movements. They had even been kitted and clothed appropriately, to appear almost undistinguishable.

"Excellent, Stockman. You have done well." The Shredder said, giving rare praise. "How long until they will be ready for battle?"

Stockman shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, his bulbous head bobbing as he moved. "It will take time, Mazzzter. They are modified to learn, but itzzz a zzzlow procezzzzz."

"There izzz another way…" he then hesitantly suggested.

As The Shredder nodded for him to continue, Stockman started to detail the work he'd been doing on the additional Kraang technology that had been salvaged and was under investigation at the other site. He concluded with how it could potentially be used to accelerate the training cycle of the clones.

The Shredder contemplated for several moments, enough to frazzle a few more of Stockman's remaining nerves as he waited for some form of indication of the ferocious man's mood.

"You may proceed." The Shredder eventually stated, much to the mutant fly's relief. "Capture one of the turtles. Use them."

* * *

Michelangelo carefully added the forty-seventh balloon to the impressively sized pile that he was steadily amassing on the makeshift kitchen table. Just a few more, then he'd finally have enough to carry out his master plan.

Reaching for another balloon, a jaunty orange one this time, he filled it from the tap before fumbling to get it knotted and ready to go. The next balloon was appropriately green, with an iridescent sheen.

As he worked Mikey hummed a happy tune to himself, while in the open freezer Ice-cream Kitty danced appreciatively. However, at the sound of someone entering the lair, the turtle paused from his preparations in order to glance curiously over and see who it was.

"Yo, April!"

"Hey." April greeted as she approached, returning the turtle's infectious smile. "Are the others not around?"

His happy demeanour drooped a little at the question. "No… They're all still mad at each other."

"Still? It's been a week!"

When Michelangelo's only response was to look despondent, April reached over to comfortingly pat his arm. "Don't worry. I'm sure they'll calm down soon."

"So…" she then continued, "Er, what's with all the water balloons?"

Mikey brightened again. "They're part of my cunning plan! See, I'm going to put them all in this net. Then, I'll yell to my bros that there's pizza for them in the fridge."

"They'll come running, open the fridge door, the net will fall and- BAM! It'll be brilliant, they're gonna be furious!"

Ice-cream Kitty meowed approvingly, earning a grin from Mikey.

April meanwhile offered a more quizzical smile. "Er… Great! How will that help?"

"Becaaauuuse, then they'll stop being mad at one another and be mad at me instead!" Mikey elaborated proudly, as he started moving the balloons into his rigged net.

"Aww." April's expression softened. "That's sweet, Mikey. Misguided, but sweet."

"I've tried pretty much everything else." Michelangelo explained, dejectedly. "I've spoken to each of them individually and they were ok, but the moment they see each other the sparks fly and they end up madder than before."

"It sounds pretty bad." April conceded. "But I'm not sure that dropping a ton of water balloons on their heads is going to work…"

"Of course it is!" he declared, confidently. "They get mad at me for one balloon, so just imagine how mad they'll be when they get hit with fifty at once!"

As he finished up loading the last few balloons into the net, Mikey paused and glanced over at April.

"So how come you're here? I thought you were babysitting with Casey this evening."

"Oh, well… He can handle looking after his sister by himself." April explained, tucking a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "I figured there was someone else who could use my company."

"Who?" Mikey asked curiously. When he got a raised eyebrow and a stare in response, it clicked. "Oh!"

"Thanks. You're awesome, April." he beamed.

"So, uh… Rather than making your brothers even madder than they already are… Why don't we go out someplace?" April suggested. "How about Murakami-san's? I'll buy."

"Yeah!" Michelangelo cheered, abruptly abandoning his oversized prank. "Let me just get my coat…"

"You don't have a coat." April pointed out.

Mikey shrugged, before enthusiastically stating, "I should totally get a coat. It'd look awesome on me! A big trench coat… With a hat."

April laughed at the idea. "You're fine dressed as you are." she teased. "Come on, let's go."

Above ground, it was a dry and pleasant evening. Darkness was growing, certainly enough to give shadows for the ninja to hide in. Yet the city still basked in the fading light of sunset and would for a short while yet.

The streets were relatively quiet, as was usual now. However there were enough people meandering along as they went about their business to mean that Mikey had to stealthily trail April as she headed for the noodle bar, rather than being able to walk openly alongside her.

Eventually they rounded the final corner, spotting the familiar red and white 247 sign hung above the shop. From the silhouette view through the windows, there didn't seem to be any patrons there at present. But, erring on the side of caution, April motioned for Michelangelo to wait while she checked.

For a fanciful moment he examined the menu on the token machine outside. Briefly, he wondered what some of the items he'd never tried might taste like. But, ultimately, he knew exactly what he was going to order. As April returned, she glanced at him.

"So, what'll be?" she asked, pulling out her purse.

"As if you need to ask." Mikey grinned.

Amused, April inserted the correct coinage and pressed the button for two portions of pizza gyoza. She turned to head back into the restaurant, but hesitated when realising that Mikey was lingering.

"What's up?"

Michelangelo tapped his fingers together uncertainly. "Hey, April… You think maybe if we took some pizza gyoza back for the others that they might… You know…"

April smiled gently and headed back over. "It's worth a try."

Inserting the rest of her allowance into the machine, she withdrew three more tokens. They both headed into the shop and passed them all over to Mr Murakami.

"Konbanwa, April-chan, Turtle-san." he greeted pleasantly, before turning to begin prepare the food.

As they waited and then while they ate, April and Mikey chatted happily. They relived past adventures and laughed together about funny events that had transpired. For Mikey, who had missed the social interaction with his feuding brothers for the past week, it was a welcome relief to be able to just relax into an animated discussion with a friendly face.

The evening was growing late by the time that they thanked Mr Murakami for the food and wrapped up the additional pizza gyoza to take them back for the other turtles. Outside, sunset had concluded so the only light remaining came from the glow of the moon and the street-lamps.

"I'll walk you home." Michelangelo offered, chivalrously.

April smiled, but shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm a kunoichi, remember? I think I can manage to walk a few blocks by myself without getting into trouble."

Mikey looked doubtful. "Trouble seems to find you an awful lot…"

"Like you can talk." April countered, hands on her hips.

"Yeah, but I love trouble!" the turtle grinned.

"Then you will love thizzz." came an unwelcome buzz from above them.

April and Mikey both abruptly looked upwards, to where Baxter Stockman was flying unsteadily above them. His lopsided appendages made hovering in one spot difficult and he drifted to one side before jerkily righting himself.

"Buzzkill!" called Mikey, quickly drawing his kusarigama and entering a ready stance. "Can't you just take the night off?"

It was evidently difficult work in his claw-like hands, but Stockman fumbled with what looked to be a remote control device and eventually succeeded in activating it. From the back of a van parked nearby there was an ominous series of electronic beeps and whirrs before four freshly repaired Turtle-bots burst out of the vehicle and into the square outside Mr Murakami's shop.

"Oh, not these guys again." Michelangelo lamented, spinning his nunchucks in anticipation of battle. "I already ripped them apart once!"

"It won't be so eazzzy this time!" Stockman threatened. "Turtle-botzzz, get him!"

It was either a freak co-incidence or there had been some careful programming going on, Mikey noted, as the first Turtle-bot to enthusiastically leap into the fight was the Raph-bot.

The robot was strong, but Michelangelo was quicker. He back-flipped out of immediate range and onto the top of the token machine. From there, he could use the chain to extend the range so his weapon could strike from a distance, where the robot's sais were unable to reach.

From his vantage point he had a quick glance over to where April was presently holding her own against the Donnie-bot, though mostly through defensive moves rather than making any attacks of her own. From the other side, he saw the Leo-bot racing towards him with blades drawn.

That just left one more Turtle-bot. For a split second he had no idea where his robotic equivalent was, until he felt the chain wrap around his ankle.

"Oh no…" he managed to murmur, before he was suddenly yanked down from his pedestal.

Sprawled unceremoniously on his shell, Mikey barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid the Leo-bot's swinging attack. As he jumped back to his feet, the turtle managed a good blow that sent the orange striped enemy to the ground and disentangled the chain from his ankle.

Unfortunately, it also left Mikey in a vulnerable position that the Raph-bot didn't hesitate to exploit. Michelangelo yelped in pain as the kick sent him flying across the area and slamming into the nearby wall.

"Mikey!" April yelled, but was powerless to help as she quickly dodged another attack from her own assailant.

Scrambling back to standing, Mikey managed to make a deep scratch across the chest plate of the Raph-bot with a wild attack from his kusarigama blade and force the robot back a couple of paces. But, from behind, the Leo-bot took the opportunity to flank and struck Mikey a glancing blow across the shell.

"Hey, no fair!" Mikey protested. "One at a time, Bro-bots!"

From above, Stockman laughed horribly. "You'll find my new improved Turtle-botzzz are unstoppable!" he mocked.

Michelangelo wanted to make a witty retort and put the fly mutant scientist in his place, but he only got as far as opening his mouth before the Raph-bot barrelled into him and sent him slamming back into the concrete with a crunch.

Across the other side of the square, April was beginning to struggle. She knew that the real Donatello could do a lot of damage with his wooden staff, and this robotic version was brandishing a metallic pole with the naginata blade extending from one end. Worse still, despite her dodging efforts it was showing no signs of tiring, or whatever the robotic equivalent was of running out of juice.

The Turtle-bot swung again and the blade whipped in front of her, nicking her clothes and barely missing her skin. Frantically, she rolled to one side and flung her tessen fan straight at the robot's face. By some miracle the haphazard attack worked, as the sharp edge cut straight across the optical sensors.

Recoiling, the Donnie-bot hesitated as the optical feed was cut off and it was left blind in the battlefield. That was all the opportunity April needed to snatch the metallic naginata from the robot's hands and stab it straight through the middle of the machine.

Fizzling, her attacker dropped like a stone.

"Yes!" cheered April. Though her celebrations proved premature, as the chains of the Mikey-bot's kusarigama suddenly wrapped tightly around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She stumbled to the floor, captured inescapably.

Nearby, the real Michelangelo wasn't faring well. He'd manage to deal a significant amount of damage, disarming the red striped enemy and sending the robots weapons skittering out of immediate reach. But even without sais the Raph-bot still hit hard without hesitation or respite, while the Leo-bot continued to launch an assault with paired ninjaken slicing menacingly.

Growing steadily more exhausted, as well as being battered and bruised, Mikey was starting to see spots dancing before his eyes with each blow that connected. He tried to endure, dodging and weaving as he avoided attacks and made some of his own, but it was getting increasingly difficult as his strength waned.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw April go down as his own robotic equivalent captured her in chains. Calling her name, he tried frantically to make a path in order to head over to release her. But although he got a lucky blow on the Raph-bot that severed one arm of the robot, the unavoidable attacks just kept coming and he couldn't break out of his own combat.

It was a heavy blow from the Leo-bot that eventually felled the ninja turtle. His vision swimming and barely holding onto consciousness, Michelangelo stumbled and dropped to the ground. Try as he might, he just couldn't make his battered body move. Each time he attempted to stand, his head span and he could feel the threat of his vision darkening.

In front of him, he could dimly make out Stockman's feet as the mutant fly landed.

"Take them to the hozzzbital." the scientist ordered.

A hospital. That would help, Mikey thought in dizzy relief. He could really use a hospital right now. He just hoped they treated mutant turtles, and that someone would cover his bill.

"Whats thizzz?" Stockman then buzzed curiously, reaching down to retrieve the doggy bag of pizza gyoza that had been dropped during the fight.

As he finally lost his battle to remain conscious, the last thing Michelangelo saw was Stockman vomiting disgustingly over the food that had been meant to be a peace offering for his brothers.


	11. Chapter 11: Like moths to a flame

**CHAPTER 11**

 **Like moths to a flame**

Splinter stood in the middle of the lair, calmly taking in the unusual silence of the area. At this time of the evening, he would expect to find all of his boys gathered in the living space. Between being absorbed in various unfathomable brain dulling activities, there would be the animated banter of the inseparable brothers as they wound one another up unmercifully.

But there was none of this. Instead, the television stood sadly silent and the area was unexpectedly tidy without the encroaching mess of magazines, empty pizza boxes and indefinable electronic devices.

In a way, it felt as if the room had lost its soul, Splinter reflected sadly.

From his own distant experience he knew that the teenage years were far from easy. A turbulent journey of wonder, discovery and hormones that threatened to destabilise even the most steady of individuals. Throw mutagen into the mix, providing an extreme divergence from the impossible normalcy that most pre-adults yearned for, and the degree of difficulty his sons faced was multiplied to an exponential level.

Their connection through blood and the shared fate that had befallen them made their bond as brothers stronger than any he had ever seen. It was unshakeable. Although they often seemed diametrically opposed, as with the natural elements there was a necessary harmony in the way they coexisted together.

Splinter had waited patiently to allow his children the time to realise their mistakes and learn from them. In doing so, the solution would be arrived at independent of his interference so that, hopefully, the problems would then not be repeated in the future.

However there was a limit to patience, and Splinter's had now been depleted.

He had chosen his moment of intervention carefully, having overheard Michelangelo's earlier conversation with April and watched as the two headed out.

Splinter had passed Leonardo meditating furiously in the dojo while he waited for a solution to miraculously present itself. From the occasional frustrated clatter he knew that Donatello was in his lab, while his sensitive rodent ears could hear the distant sound of Raphael as he angrily battled action figures together in his room.

"Kodomo-tachi! Koko ni kinasai!" Splinter barked suddenly, his voice reverberating in a way that not one of his three eldest could possibly claim not to hear from their respective locations. Referring to them as children with the instruction to gather would give them all the warning they needed as to the nature of their summoning.

He could have predicted which of the three would be the first to hurry into the living area, and was not disappointed.

"Hai, Sensei." Leonardo said, dropping into a perfect seiza.

Noticeably slower, the next to appear was Donatello as he reluctantly emerged from his lab and dragged himself unwillingly across the floor to kneel. He didn't bother speaking, but did share a glare with his brother before, at least, waiting attentively.

Lastly, Raphael emerged from his room with both visible and audible frustration. Stomping to the living area, he dropped shambolically to his knees before snapping, " _What_ , Sensei?!"

Splinter just paced before them, dragging out the moment and letting them all stew over exactly why they had been summoned.

He noted as he did that Leonardo had the apprehensive expression of someone who knew exactly what was coming and could not deny that he deserved it. The delay just served to increase the mental self-punishment that his eldest was already performing, alleviating any further disciplinary requirement for the moment.

Donatello had briefly seemed to suspect the inevitable and for a short time Splinter had held his concentration. However, when the moment was elongated, the overactive mind of the most intelligent of his sons had already returned to contemplating whatever project he was using to distract himself. Such inattention would shortly be resolved, but first of all Splinter had another matter to deal with.

This was, of course, Raphael. There was a fire within his son that burned with such ferocity that it could never be extinguished. At times such passion was commendable and even an asset, but frequently it grew to be a destructive inferno that threatened to rage beyond all control.

This was one of those times.

As with any fire, one way to dampen it was the ration the fuel. So, Splinter remained quiet and paced serenely before his sons.

"What do you want?!" Raphael raged against the silence. "If you have nothing to say, I'm going back to my room!"

Splinter eventually stopped in front of his furious son, and carefully twitched one finger slightly as he spoke. "Perhaps, Raphael, you would prefer to spend some time in meditation?" he offered, calmly.

The turtle flinched slightly, anticipating a disabling movement that did not arrive. As seconds ticked by for the uneasy standoff, Splinter could sense a degree of rage dissipating from his most impetuous child.

"No, Sensei." Raphael finally replied, through clenched teeth.

Minor progress, Splinter reflected. He would accept the small victory.

Taking a pace forward to stand before Donatello, he abruptly jabbed one finger to the sensitive and somewhat ticklish spot he had discovered his sons to have at the side of their necks.

The movement brought a predictable "Aah!" as Donatello was rudely jolted from his straying thoughts.

"Perhaps you would also prefer to be elsewhere, Donatello?" Splinter asked, arching an eyebrow dangerously as he withdraw his hand.

"No, Sensei." Donatello quickly said, his attention now firmly focused where it belonged.

Turning away from his sons, Splinter stood straight with one hand upon his walking stick and the other neatly pressed across his back. "Now. Perhaps one of you would like to tell me why you are here."

He couldn't see it, but he could sense the three of them exchanging looks behind his back. Each of them silently daring the others to speak.

"No one?" Splinter prompted, turning back to face them. From the looks on each of their faces, they all had words they were refraining from voicing. Probably a flippant response, in at least one case.

Eventually, as could have been anticipated, Leonardo volunteered a measured answer.

"Lately we, uh… Haven't been working well as a team."

"Continue." Splinter prompted.

Leonardo squirmed uncomfortably. "We've been too busy arguing. About… Stuff that doesn't really matter."

Splinter didn't have to wait long for the inevitable disagreement to erupt.

Raphael growled. "Doesn't matter?!"

"Well maybe it doesn't matter to you!" Donatello also protested. "But some of us-"

"I'm just saying-" Leonardo started, defensively.

Splinter brought his stick down onto the ground with a sharp tap to return his sons to attentive silence.

"It seems to me that you have all forgotten something important." he said, fixing each of them with a steely glare.

"Lunch?" quipped Raphael, earning him a whack on the head with the staff.

"We've forgotten to respect each other?" Leonardo offered, his head tilted boldly.

"Empathy?" tried Donatello, shooting a sideways glare to his brother.

"To not be insufferable jerks?" Raphael stated, pointedly.

Splinter stood in severe silence for several moments. "It is worse than I thought. It seems you have not forgotten. Instead, you are wilfully failing to treat one another with respect and empathy. Being, as Raphael so succinctly put it, jerks."

"Sorry, Sensei." Leonardo reflexively apologised, glaring at the other two as they mockingly mimicked him.

"It is not to me that you should apologise."

Leonardo sighed, then turned to his brothers to offer a genuine apology. "All right. I'm sorry. Raph, I should have been kinder about the thi- about Junior. And Donnie, I should have waited and let you tell April yourself."

"No… You were right. She needed to be told." Donatello reluctantly conceded. "And I… I was never going to tell her."

"I just hope she doesn't hate me." he said, sadly.

Leonardo confidently shook his head. "She doesn't. Trust me, she was really worried about you."

They shared a brief, brotherly smile before both turning to Raphael.

"Raph, I'm really sorry that I didn't find out sooner that Junior was gonna explode." Donatello apologised. "I still don't think there was anything we could have done, but… Well, at least we could have tried to prevent it."

The two brothers then waited expectantly for Raphael's words of reconciliation.

They didn't come. He instead folded his arms and glared as he said, "Well, I'm not apologising. You shouldn't have left me with the egg in the first place."

"Raph…" Leonardo started, in exasperation.

"I think, perhaps, a reminder in the art of teamwork is in order." Splinter cut in.

Beckoning his children, he lead them over to the kitchen. On the table, he placed two lit candles at opposite ends.

"No weapons. Extinguish the flames, at the same time, without touching the candles."

For a moment, the three of them waited expectantly for him to make it more difficult. He fully intended to, but would wait just a moment longer than they did before he added further complications.

As Leonardo and Donatello, seemingly reconciled, moved in to each blow out one candle, Splinter raised one hand to motion them to wait.

"Leonardo. Stand there." he motioned, pointing to the corner of the room. "You are not to move."

With a look of resignation, his eldest did as instructed. For the other two, Splinter stepped forward and grabbed the backs of their masks. In both cases the trailing tails were long enough to bring to the front and knot blindingly in front of their eyes.

"Oh. Great. The whole be guided by teamwork lesson." Raphael snarked.

"Too easy?" Splinter said. "Very well…"

"Nice going, Raph!" Donatello remonstrated, as Splinter deftly tied them shell to shell.

Splinter stepped back, moving several of the chairs into their path as he did. "Now. Continue."

Leonardo sighed. "All right. Guys, step to the left."

"My left or Raph's lef-aah! Wait!"

"We know where the table is, Dork." Raphael said, bodily dragging his brother behind him as he headed obstinately back towards it.

"Wait!" Leo called, clearly itching to rush forward, "Or you'll-"

There was a crash as Raph knocked one of the chairs flying.

"Ow!" Donnie yelped, hopping in pain as it landed on his toes.

Raphael muttered something that might have been an apology.

"Now will you listen?" the eldest asked, impatiently. "Ok, step to _Raph's_ left…"

Splinter watched impassively as the three of them carried out the exercise. Initially it was slow progress as the moving two fought against one another and the instructions being given to them, while the directions became increasingly unclear and harried under the influence of frustration.

"We could just stand here and do nothing." Donnie suggested finally. "The candles will burn down eventually and go out."

"But not necessarily at the same time." Leo pointed out.

Raphael growled. "If I break the table, they'll fall off and go out as they hit the floor."

"Let's just do this properly. Take a tiny step to Raph's right. Donnie, you need to lean forwards a bit more. Yeah, that's it. Now face more to the left. Hold it there."

Splinter watched the progress with increasing satisfaction. After the rocky start, the three were finally starting to work properly together and slip back into a groove of unlikely yet familiar teamwork that would see the task eventually completed.

As it came to pass, a moment or two later. After a cautious test to ensure that everything was lined up correctly, Leonardo gave the order and Raphael blew out one candle as Donatello simultaneously blew out the other.

"Well done." Splinter congratulated, releasing the tied turtles from their bonds. They then reached up to uncover their eyes.

As they did, he re-lit the candles.

Raphael groaned. "Don't tell me we have to do it all over again?"

"No." Splinter said, to brightening faces. "I am simply going to demonstrate a quicker method."

As the three of them waited expectantly, he stepped back several paces. "Leonardo. Please open the refrigerator."

His eldest looked confused, but dutifully reached over to do as instructed.

With a twang, the trap Splinter had observed Michelangelo preparing earlier was triggered. The net fell to one side and fifty water balloons dropped onto the unsuspecting heads of the three turtles. They exploded in a colourful array, drenching the intended targets and the surrounding area with predictable mayhem. The wider splashes were more than adequate to drown the flame of the candles.

Yelps and splutters of indignant surprise erupted from the unwitting targets and Splinter's lips curled into a smile of quiet amusement.

"Sensei!" Donatello protested, wiping the water from his face and wringing out the bedraggled ends of his mask.

Raphael shook himself all over and growled in anger. "This has Mikey's name all over it. I'm gonna use his FACE to mop this up."

"We need to go and find Mikey, right Master Splinter?" Leonardo suggested, picking bits of ruptured balloon off his shoulders and proficiently fathoming the point of the final lesson.

Splinter nodded briefly, then turned and headed back towards the dojo.

His work was done.


	12. Chapter 12: Gut feeling

**CHAPTER 12**

 **Gut feeling**

Raphael had been hoping that the third time would be the charm, but it wasn't to be the case. As with the previous two attempts, the phone just rang to Mikey's inane voice message prompting the caller to leave him some love.

"No answer." Raphael stated, terminating the call.

Donatello looked up from his computer. "Do you think he's in trouble?"

"When _isn't_ he in trouble?"

Leonardo nodded in agreement. "We'll need to find his location based on the signal."

Donnie rolled his eyes before sarcastically responding, "Yeah, Leo. I'll get to that right after I'm done sniping this auction and posting about my day on social media… I'm tracking right now!"

"Track quicker!" Raph snapped.

"Hey, tell that to the computer, not me." Donatello pointed out.

Obligingly, Raphael drew a sai and pulled back in preparation to strike. It was mildly satisfying to cause Donnie to shriek and move to bodily protect the machine, as if he thought the threat was serious.

"Ok, ok! We have a location!" his brother hastily announced. "It's… Right outside Murakami's."

"I really should write some kind of app that tracks us continuously and set up some kind of logging system, maybe with a perimeter alert." he then continued, mumbling primarily to himself. "After all the times that we end up needing to use the T-phones to find one another. It shouldn't be too difficult. I'll need to set up some kind of server and then ping over the GPS co-ordinates as they're-Ow!"

"Less talk, more movement!"

"Let's do this." Leo agreed, leading the three of them topside.

It didn't take the group long to find Michelangelo's dropped T-phone in the area outside the noodle bar. While Leonardo and Donatello were engrossed with traditional investigation work, Raphael headed over and opened the door to lean into the restaurant.

"Hey, Murakami." he started bluntly, "Was Mikey here?"

The blind chef appeared to be in the process of cleaning up, but quickly turned to Raphael as he spoke. "Turtle-san!" he greeted, a degree of urgency in his voice.

"I am glad you are here. April-chan and Turtle-san were attacked outside. They were carried away!"

"By who?!"

"I don't know… I did not see their faces." Murakami replied, dryly.

Without a word of thanks, Raphael turned out of the shop and hurried back over to the others.

"Raph," started Leo, looking up, "We found evidence of a fight, and-"

"April and Mikey were attacked and carried off." Raphael concluded, impatiently.

Leonardo looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"Murakami saw it. Heard it. You know what I mean!"

"I think it was Stockman and his robots." Donatello deduced. "Look, this takeout bag is covered in insectoid digestive juices. And there are small robotic pieces strewn about that seem to have been broken off and left behind."

"So let's head to his lab and get Mikey back!" Raph snapped. The thought that his little brother might be in danger got right under his shell.

Leo made a calming motion with his hands that only caused the opposite effect. "All right, Raph. Let's just see what else we can find first. There might be an important clue we're missing."

"Forget it. I'm going!" Raphael retorted, turning and setting off.

He was pleased to note that Donatello seemed to agree and promptly jumped up to follow. Outnumbered, Leonardo had no choice but to go along with it and hurry along behind his brothers.

Vaulting up to the rooftops, they began to swiftly cross the midnight skyline towards their destination with leaps and bounds. They were only a couple of blocks away from the Shredder's lair when Donnie suddenly stopped.

"April… We've got to go back."

The other two skidded to a halt and turned to him.

"What?" said Leo, confused.

"I know where April is!"

"April? Did you get a message from her?"

Donnie shook his head. "No, I just… It's weird. I have this feeling…"

"Haven't your feelings for April caused enough trouble?" Raph snarked.

His brother scowled. "Not that kind of feeling!"

"It's just… I don't know! I can't describe it. It's just a feeling that she's not in there!"

Raphael shared a glance with Leonardo, as both of them reached the same thought simultaneously.

"Don, do you think you could be telepathically connected to April?" Leo suggested.

Donnie initially looked confused. "I'm not telepathic. Why would I-" he started, before comprehension finally dawned. "Our DNA. We share DNA. I could have inherited her abilities."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Brilliant, Sherlock."

A withering glance was shot in his direction, before Donnie started pacing agitatedly. "But I don't know how it works! Do I just think about her? I want to find her, but… I don't know! For a moment it was so strong, but I don't feel anything now!"

"You just need to focus." advised Leo.

"I _am_ focusing!" his brother frenetically snapped back, pressing his hands to his head and gibbering almost incoherently. "I always thought telepathy would be clearer, like a half-duplex channel or with time division multiplexing to separate the thought patterns between the individuals and regulate the- She's this way!"

Abruptly he set off, initially turning back the way they'd come from before branching off in an entirely different direction.

They were lead to a building a few blocks away, which from the outside appeared to be a veterinary hospital. However it looked to be out of business, as most of the signage was removed and damage to the external of the property had not been repaired.

"A veterinary clinic?" said Leo, in surprise. "Are you _sure_ this is the place, Donnie?"

"Positive."

Raphael's lip curled into a snarl as several troubling thoughts went through his mind. "If they've done anything _weird_ to Mikey, I'm swear I'm gonna-"

"Yeah, we know." Leo agreed. "We'll join you."

Walking over to a damaged frame, it took little effort for Raph to break the lock and lever the window open. Without waiting, he vaulted onto the ledge and slipped into the building. There, he hesitated a few moments to allow his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room, giving his brothers a chance to join him.

They were in what must have once been one of the consultation rooms. An examination platform for the animal patients extended into the centre, with several cupboards running alongside it. A large set of scales stood propped nearby, while the walls were covered in peeling, yellowing posters that promoted various good practices in the care of animal companions.

Along a shelf were a series of books about various different species, their ailments and upkeep. Donnie seemed particularly interested by a book advocating chelonian care and plucked it down to leaf through some of the pages.

"This ain't a library!" Raph snapped, keeping his voice low.

"Shh!" hissed Leo, from where he was stood at the doorway and seemingly trying to ascertain what lay beyond it. After a few moments he seemed satisfied that the area beyond was empty and beckoned for the others to silently follow.

Stealthily, the three of them slipped into what had formerly been the waiting room. Largely gutted, the area was mostly a collection now of dust and misplaced objects that had been abandoned when the clinic was closed. Yet recent footprints through the filth betrayed the fact that the building was no longer uninhabited.

Donatello pointed towards the door leading deeper into the complex, still displaying the 'No access' logo for the benefit of the former customers. Ignoring the sign, Leonardo continued to lead as they moved through into the next section.

A corridor stretched beyond, from the end of which there was the sound of conversing voices. One of them was undoubtedly that of Stockman, while the other sounded like the gravelly tones of Rahzar. Raph watched impatiently, itching to dive into battle, as Leo motioned them to halt and crouched down low while he strained to listen to what was being said.

It was Donnie that promptly disregarded the order, instead quickly moving to one of the doorways leading off from the corridor. Beckoning the others to follow, he opened the door and slipped inside.

Since his genius brother seemed to know where he was going, but mostly because it seemed significantly more interesting and productive than lurking in the corridor, Raph followed.

He wasn't particularly surprised to see April imprisoned inside a large animal cage on the far side of the room. It looked like she had been in the middle of attempting to free herself, having managed to break a small piece of metal off the rim of the crudely constructed cage to try and use on the padlock.

"April!" Donnie called in relief, keeping his voice quiet. Clearly still feeling a bit awkward, he avoided meeting her eyes as he quickly took over trying to pick the lock.

"Guys!" April called back, initially surprised. "You're talking again?"

Leo slipped into the room and nodded, looking a bit embarrassed. "Yeah… We got our shells kicked by Splinter."

"About time." their friend chided. "Do you have any idea how upset Mikey's been?"

Raph scowled. "Yeah, fifty water balloons worth of upset. When we find him, he's going to regret it!"

"They brought us both here." April confirmed. "But Mikey was hurt… They took him to another room."

"We need to find him." Raphael insisted, pushing Donatello impatiently out of the way and using his sai to snap the lock off the cage. "Now!"

April scrambled out of her prison and dusted herself off, before grabbing Mikey and her weapons from where they'd been left on the far side of the room.

Leonardo nodded. "Let's go."

In full ninja mode, they crept back into the corridor and progressed along it. The voices from before had gone, as had the enemies they came from, but what that implied was open to interpretation. One of them checked inside each door they passed, but with no success in locating the missing brother or the absent enemies.

Eventually, they reached a double doorway that pushed open to an area with an elevator and a staircase leading both up and down. There was a brief hesitation, before Leonardo decisively split the party.

"Donnie, you and April check upstairs. Raph, you're with me."

The group divided and Raphael followed with uncharacteristic obedience behind the leader. However it was less because he was feeling charitable towards his oldest brother and more that he was impatient to locate his youngest.

Since realising that Mikey was in some form of trouble, Raph had been anxious to find him. Since hearing that Mikey had been injured, Raph had been determined to ensure that someone was made to pay. Copiously.

As he and Leo reached the bottom of the staircase, it seemed like his wish was to be granted.

The room opened up into a cramped parking garage beneath the building. Although there were currently no vehicles; just piles of boxes filling most of the designated spaces.

Stood at the far side were three of Stockman's Turtle-bots. They showed signs of damage, the Raph-bot missing an entire arm and the other two covered in scratches. Yet they were clearly still operable, whirring into life as their sensors spotted the two turtles entering the area.

The fourth Turtle-bot lay in a broken heap nearby, having seemingly been impaled with its own naginata and yet to be repaired to a functional state.

It wasn't a huge stretch for Raphael to picture the damage to the Turtle-bots having been done by Michelangelo with his signature weapon. Which meant that these had been involved in harming and capturing his little brother.

Raphael grinned darkly, drawing his sais and spinning them eagerly in his hands. "This is more like it. It's payback time!"

He took perverse satisfaction in taking the Leo-bot straight out with a sai flung directly into the middle of its forehead.

"Yeah, I bet you _android_ that." Leonardo quipped, drawing his blades as he headed over to take on the Raph-bot.

Raphael smirked. "I figured you could handle the _mostly 'armless_ one."

As he walked over to retrieve his weapon, Raph found himself entangled by chains as the Mikey-bot sought to restrain him. However it didn't last long, as Leo reached out to neatly cut him free.

"Want to ex- _chain-ge_?" he offered.

Raphael kicked the Mikey-bot to the ground. "Nah, I'm not being left out of the _loop_."

He was pleased to see his robot counterpart land a successful hit on Leonardo, but then equally pleased to see his brother launch a damaging counter attack.

"Testing your _metal_?" Raph joked, finally retrieving his sai and rounding on the Mikey-bot as it whirred back to standing.

"That one was terrible." Leo pointed out, as he spin-kicked the robot. "It _drives_ me crazy."

" _Drives_." Leonardo repeated, from Raph's blank expression. "Drives? We're in a parking garage."

"There are no vehicles." Raphael pointed out, stomping therapeutically on the Mikey-bot's chest. "Doesn't count."

"Tch." Leo grumbled good-naturedly, as he sliced off the Raph-bot's other arm. "Why do you get to _vet_ everything?"

"You're losing it, Leo." Raph retorted, finishing off his foe by ripping the head from the body. "You should re- _tyre_."

"Hey! Gimme a _brake_ , you said no car puns." Leonardo protested as he finally put the Raph-bot out of commission. "You _auto_ be ashamed of yourself. You can't just _shift_ the rules, that _wheelie_ annoys me! Makes me want to _throttle_ -"

Raphael quickly raised his hands in defeat, trying not to laugh. "Whoa! Stop already! You win. Dork."

Leo grinned, earning him an amicable punch to the shoulder.

"Well," announced Raph as he looked around. "not much else down here."

Leonardo nodded in agreement. "Let's find the others and regroup."


	13. Chapter 13: One of a kind

**CHAPTER 13**

 **One of a kind**

Donatello trailed after April as they headed quickly up the stairs. Ordinarily he'd have jumped at the chance to team up with her, but right now he wasn't thanking Leonardo for his choice in party split. The last time he'd seen April had not gone well, as the truth about their unorthodox genetic relationship had been bluntly, albeit necessarily, exposed.

With the 20/20 vision of retrospect he could see that his handling of the reveal hadn't been the best. He'd not seen April's reaction to finding out that she had a new, unexpected genetic family member. Subsequently, a million different scenarios had been playing through his head since that moment, each getting steadily more outrageous as his subconscious fretfully overstated reality.

Leonardo's reassurance that April definitely didn't hate him had gone some way towards abating the fears. However, until he knew for certain what damage might have been done and how she would respond to the enforced change in relationship, he simply couldn't relax around her.

He wanted to say something, to try and establish the state of affairs, but all words seemed to be stuck somewhere between his larynx and his trachea. It took several moments before he was able to clear his throat and dislodge the hallucinatory blockage, then a moment or two longer before the forming of a sentence started to come together.

"April…" he started uncertainly, as they reached the top of the stairs and headed through the swinging doors.

She rapidly turned, appearing to expect an urgent warning about an impending threat or approaching enemy. As she did, her hand slipped on the door and it abruptly snapped back closed, catching Donatello in the face.

"Ow!" he protested, recoiling and putting both hands to his beak.

"Ah! Sorry, D." April quickly apologised, grabbing the door and holding it open for him again.

The moment he'd been trying to create was lost and the words he'd been trying to prepare had vanished. They moved on in uncomfortable silence, heading into a corridor that mirrored the one below.

Testing a few of the doors revealed rooms beyond that were, in most cases, filled with tanks and cages that would likely have once have been used for the animal in-patients of the veterinary hospital. But then, strangely, there were a couple that seemed to have been kitted out for a human, or humanoid, resident to use.

Mikey could have been held in one of these, Donatello thought to himself as the search continued. He could see no particular evidence to suggest it, he just had a feeling that his brother had been nearby. Was this another gift of the telepathic abilities that he seemed to have inherited, or just wishful thinking?

The next door they came to swung loose on one hinge, as if there'd been some kind of scuffle. Motioning April to stay back, with bo staff in hand Donnie crept cautiously forward to peer around the doorway and see what perils might be waiting for them within.

It looked like the room had once been an operating theatre, but most of the traditional equipment was gone. Instead, it was filled with a mishmash of former Kraang tech. A large machine with a significant dent and several large scratches stood darkly to one side. Meanwhile another device against the far wall had erratically flickering lights, which were providing the only sketchy illumination to the area.

On the ceiling there was suspended what looked to be some kind of inactive laser, while in the middle of the room were two gurneys. They were outfitted with leather straps to pin the unfortunate patient down. One of the trolley beds was sprawled messily on its side as if it had been knocked over in a hurry, while on the other a familiar figure lay motionless.

"Mikey!" Donatello called worriedly, stealth abandoned as he sheathed his bo staff and worriedly rushed to his brother's side.

His hands shaking nervously as his mind quickly processed all the possible scenarios that this situation could lead to, Donnie reached to check for a pulse. The relief when he found it was immense and he slowly let out the breath that he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

After a few more rapid checks, making sure that there were no obvious injuries and that his brother was in no immediate danger, he quickly started fumbling to undo the straps that held Mikey prisoner.

"I'll get you out of here!" he promised, carefully sliding his hands under the prone form in order to lift his brother down.

"Is he ok?" April asked, hurrying to help.

"Yeah, I think so." Donnie said, anxiously. "I hope so!"

Michelangelo was limp as a rag doll as Donatello gently slumped his unconscious brother over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Completely ignoring all the tempting technology in the room, he headed back into the corridor. April tugged the damaged door back as far as she could, to allow them more space to pass.

Heading along the corridor towards them were Leonardo and Raphael. Initially the two had been joshing with one another over a shared joke, but both rapidly sobered as the groups were reunited.

Raph hurried over in alarm. "Mikey! What happened?!"

Donatello shook his head. "I don't know! He's alive, but unconscious. I can't treat him properly here."

"Let's get him back to the lair." Leonardo directed.

Their journey across the city to the lair entrance was done with haste, the three brothers switching between them to carry the fourth and keep up the driven pace to get Mikey to safety as soon as they possibly could.

Even unburdened, it was a challenge for April to keep up with them. Her skills had been improving under the tutelage of Master Splinter, but she lacked the decade of experience that the mutant turtles had. Eventually she was forced to call for assistance, at which point Donatello obligingly helped her along. When it was his turn to carry Michelangelo again, Leonardo took his place with April.

"They're going to regret hurting Mikey." Raphael kept muttering, leaving a series of dents in air conditioning units and access doors across the city. "I'll make them wish they'd never been born!"

As a group they leapt from rooftop to rooftop, along ledges and over skylights, before eventually swinging down a fire escape to street level as they neared their destination. Given the late hour the streets were mercifully quiet, meaning they didn't have long to wait before having opportunity to enter the sewer system.

Leonardo dropped down the manhole first, stretching up for the others to carefully pass Michelangelo down to him. However, once back underground, Raph reached out to be the one to carry the unconscious turtle. Given his short stature and the fact that they were passing through low ceilinged tunnels, it made logical sense. Although, logic seemed not to have been the primary motivator.

As the turtles and April reached the lair, they found Splinter was stood there waiting for them.

"Michelangelo?" he said, his voice and pose betraying his concern as he caught sight of Raphael's burden.

Leonardo stepped forward. "We found him, Master Splinter. But…" he started, gesturing over to the turtle in question.

"Get him to my lab." Donnie instructed to Raph, while Leo was busy describing what had transpired.

For a moment April hovered uncertainly, before electing to stay where she was and chip in to Leo's explanation with her knowledge of what had happened.

Raphael and Donatello worked together to gently set Michelangelo down onto the usual examination surface. Grabbing a nearby bundle of old blankets, Donnie placed them underneath his brother's head in an effort to try and make him more comfortable.

"So what's wrong with him?" Raph demanded.

"I don't know yet!" Donnie replied, agitatedly. "Give me some time, Raph."

He started performing various checks on Mikey, working from top to bottom as he tried to find a cause for why his brother wasn't coming around. Locating a series of puncture wounds in one arm, as if inflicted from a needle, Donnie worriedly prepared to take a blood sample.

Raph, watching nearby, suddenly looked doubtful. "Hey. Mikey was in a fight, right?"

Donnie nodded, but didn't look up from his preparations.

"Then how come he's not beat up?"

Aside from the needle wounds, Mikey appeared to be completely unharmed. In fact, if anything, he looked even less blemished than usual.

"They could have injected him with something that healed him." Donatello suggested, working to ensure his own medical syringe was properly sterilised. "I'll take some samples and see what I can find."

Raphael frowned deeper. "Why would Shredder _heal_ him? And if they have that kind of ability, shouldn't we be really worried?"

Donnie was too busy tightening a tourniquet around Mikey's upper arm to answer. Removing the elbow pad, he swabbed the area with an antiseptic wipe. "Sorry, bro." he then murmured, as he slid the needle into the vein and drew several small vials of blood for testing.

"Put your finger here." he then instructed Raphael, motioning for the turtle to approach and apply pressure to the cotton pad he placed over the puncture wound.

There initially appeared to be no reaction from the unconscious turtle to any of this. The self-taught scientist set the needle and tourniquet aside, then turned to take the samples over to his workbench. However, before he could reach his desk, there was an alarmed exclamation from Raphael.

Donatello glanced back in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask what the problem was, but found himself being bodily grabbed and dragged towards the doorway.

"OUT! We need to get out! NOW!" Raphael yelled, urgently.

Donnie started to protest, but such was Raph's strength and insistence that found himself rapidly ejected from the room before he had a chance to mount an effective objection. In his hands, he still clutched the vials.

From nearby, Splinter, Leo and April halted their conversation and glanced over towards them in bewilderment.

As Raphael then slammed the door behind them, Donatello turned to him with a scowl. "Raph! What are you-"

He was cut off as, from inside the room, there came a disconcertingly familiar sound. The splattering noise of a very wet explosion.

"That wasn't _our_ Mikey." Raph abruptly explained. "It was a clone. I saw ripping beneath the skin, just like…"

There was a momentary hesitation before he concluded, "Just like before."

Cautiously, he reached out to push the door back open. If the dojo had been a mess after the relatively small clone had exploded the week previously, the scene this time was one of decimation.

"My _LAB_!" Donatello cried.

The area, especially around where the clone had been lying, was splattered with mutagen. It was all over the various experiments he'd been working on, as well as his notes and his computer. Even from just glancing in, Donnie roughly estimated that he'd lost several months of work and various hard to acquire pieces of equipment were now ruined.

As the conversation continued around him, Donatello remained riveted to the spot, staring in abject dismay. He knew he should be worried about his missing brother, and deep inside he was. But for several long moments just couldn't turn away from the destruction that had once been his meticulous laboratory.

"So where's our Mikey?" Leo asked worriedly, as he trotted over to join his brothers.

Raph frowned. "He's still out there, somewhere. We gotta go find him!"

"Where? We have no idea where to start looking!"

"We _know_ The Shredder's behind this." Raphael snarled. "So we head for his base and we don't leave until we have Mikey back and they've paid the rental costs."

"Which are very, very expensive." he decreed, fists balled expressively. "I don't care how many clones they have. Our Mikey is an exclusive one of a kind."

"Donnie." Leo said, turning to him. The turtle in question finally tore his gaze away from his ruined laboratory.

"You sensed April before. Can you sense Mikey the same way?"

"You sensed me?" April asked, curiously.

Distracted from his brother's question, Donatello nodded coyly to April. "Yeah… I just got this feeling, about where you were."

A smile brightened her face. "The whole time I was trapped, I kept hoping you'd find me."

"April-!" Donnie started, reaching out to her in elation. But before he could complete the movement, Raph smacked him across the shell.

"Mikey!" he snapped. "Remember?"

"Right, right…" Donnie replied, dropping his hands guiltily. "But I have no idea how to use telepathy!"

"You just need to focus on him." April explained. "Picture him clearly in your mind… I'll help as well. Maybe, together, we can find where he is."

She reached out to take his hands, something that Donatello willingly responded to. They stood face to face, then as she closed her eyes to concentrate he mirrored her.

Initially she was the only thing he could think of. She was right there, standing in front of him, holding his hands. He could feel her breath on his neck and sense the warmth in her four delicate fingers against his ungainly two.

Sneaking a brief peek through one eye, he could see her face right before his own. Long eyelashes swept tantalisingly out over rosy cheeks that were lightly dusted with freckles. Her lips were pursed slightly as she concentrated, just serving to enhance their shape.

As Donatello had known from the moment he first laid eyes upon her, she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Even now, the statement still stood. Part of him knew he probably shouldn't feel that way, but right now the bigger part was fine with ignoring it.

For a moment Donnie let his gaze linger, before he suddenly became aware of both Leonardo and Raphael standing behind April, arms folded, glaring at him.

Quickly, Donatello snapped his eyes back shut and reluctantly forced all thoughts of April from his mind. Mikey, he needed to focus on Mikey.

Memories drifted into the forefront of his youngest brother. That endearing smile, the wide blue eyes and infectious laugh. A childhood spent together, learning and growing as brothers. For all his life, Mikey had been right there beside him.

Snippets of moments they'd shared started to fill his mind. He remembered sitting with Mikey the morning after they'd arrived at the O'Neil farmhouse, fearing that Master Splinter had died and wallowing in the uncertainty over whether Leo would ever wake up. The sadness and loss had been cavernous, but they had found some comfort in facing those fears together.

Happy memories were there too. He remembered Mikey's unreserved elation after Donnie had cured him of his self-inflicted shellacne, returning him to his usual appearance. Those big, childlike eyes had been filled with such joy that even the memory of it caused Donnie to smile softly.

"Well?" insisted Raph, impatiently.

"Do you see anything?" Leo prompted.

The smile disappeared and Donatello's brow furrowed as he focused even harder on the one he was seeking. For a moment he thought he could hear a faint whisper of the familiar voice, but then it was gone. He could see nothing other than the memories swimming within his mind.

It wasn't working. Even if he was telepathic, he still had no idea how to use it. Raising his head dejectedly, Donatello had been about to say as much when, much to his surprise, the location of the one he sought was suddenly clear.

"I see him!"


	14. Chapter 14: A friend in need

**CHAPTER 14**

 **A friend in need**

Slowly, cautiously, Michelangelo opened his eyes. His head was pounding uncomfortably, but as the seconds ticked by he could feel his alertness returning to him rather than fading away like it had been doing previously. Thanks to being on the receiving end of a pounding by the turtle-bots, his body ached all over. However there was no stabbing pain or worrying areas of numbness that implied he'd been seriously harmed.

"Ugh… Reset complete." he murmured, trying to raise a hand to rub his eyes.

But his arm wouldn't move. It was held down by his side by a leather strap across his wrist. He tried the other one, just in case, but found the same situation was repeated not only there but also across his ankles, his waist and his chest.

"Aw, snap!" Mikey groaned, blinking in an effort to clear his vision as he took in the situation.

It was like a scene out of the movies, he realised. He was on a gurney in a freaky operating theatre, with weird flashing lights and laser cannons. He even had a contraption attached to his head, with several wires protruding that were then connected to the indicate computer system stacked in the corner.

It all looked a little too much like Kraang-tech for Mikey's liking. Though it didn't seem as polished. Either the Kraang were making a sneaky comeback and had received a budget cut for their evil equipment, or The Shredder and his evil lackeys had been scavenging for parts.

Which one was preferable out of the two options, he wasn't sure.

For several moments, he pondered his next move. If this was a movie, they'd probably come to interrogate him shortly. Naturally he'd refuse to tell them anything, so then they'd aim the super powered laser at some delicate part of his body while simultaneously starting to fry his brain with microwave powers. Then the bad guys would monologue their dastardly plan in intricate detail. At that point, his brothers would inevitably break in and rescue him from his predicament.

For a moment Michelangelo contemplated hanging around to find out the dastardly plan. Then he realised he just wasn't that interested and would rather go home and just watch this kind of stuff on television. As for his brothers rescuing him, if they still weren't taking to one another then it might be some time before they arrived.

Mikey was bored already, laying on the gurney. So he started squirming his hand around, stretching and loosening the strap just enough for him to ease out a tiny blade that, like his brothers and sensei, he kept safely inside his wristband for situations such as this one.

The first restraint was always the most awkward to slice through, but once one arm was free he quickly got to work on releasing the other and then the straps pinning his body down. Pulling the contraption off his head and throwing it to one side, he'd just sat up to begin work on his ankles when the door to the room suddenly swung open.

Another gurney entered first, on which a motionless and uncannily familiar figure lay. It was followed by the one who was pushing it. Shredder's henchman clearly hadn't expected to see Mikey sat up and gawking at him, in the same way that Mikey hadn't anticipated being disturbed right at that moment.

There was a moment of silence as the two stared at one another before they both called out simultaneously.

"Rahzar!"

"Michelangelo!"

As Mikey quickly sliced through the straps pinning his ankles, Rahzar shoved the gurney he was pushing further into the room and leapt past in order to restrain the former captive before he could escape.

There was a crash as the gurney Michelangelo was perched on was sent flying, sprawling both the turtle and the other mutant inelegantly onto the floor. Mikey skidded shell first into a wall, leaving several cracks in the plaster.

Razhar meanwhile accidentally slammed a clawed hand into the large machine built against one wall as he was sent flying. He yelped in pain at the resultant shock this gave him, before the power died in the mangled component and he was able to extract his talons, leaving a large dent and several claw marks.

Still feeling tender and currently without weapons, Mikey reached the gallant decision to take the opportunity to run away. He leapt out of the door just moments ahead of Rahzar, who ripped one of the hinges out from the frame in his haste, leaving the door dangling precariously as he pursued the target down the corridor.

Michelangelo remembered that April had been with him and that they'd both been captured. He also knew that it was his responsibility to find and save her from whatever predicament she might be in. But he soon realised that it was difficult to concentrate on mounting a rescue operation while being pursued by a large double-mutated dog man intent on ripping him apart.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Mikey skidded to a halt before turning to follow the emergency signs onto the fire escape. Outside the building with more space to fight, he might have a better chance to disable Rahzar. Then, he resolved, he'd be able to come back to rescue April.

Leaping down to ground level, Michelangelo quickly looked around to find something he could use as a weapon. It wasn't much, but those seconds located him a crowbar.

"Alright, Rahzar!" he goaded, raising his improvised weapon threateningly and trying to ignore his aching injuries from the battle he'd been in earlier. "Let's do this!"

Rahzar dropped down in front of him and grinned nastily, showing rows of razor sharp teeth. "You think you can beat me? This will be fun."

As the mutant leapt forwards, Mikey responded by leaping into the air and bringing the crowbar down on his enemy's back with a loud crack. Bouncing off Rahzar's shoulder blades, he then rolled into a graceful landing near the entrance the alleyway.

"Bad dog!" he yelled, spinning around and readying himself for another attack.

As he raced back in to the fray, he missed the sudden cry of recognition that came from some distance further down the main street.

With one of his beloved back-flips, Mikey vaulted behind Rahzar and launched into a flying kick from there. His foot connected with the exposed ribcage of the skeletal hound, causing a howl of indignation from the recipient of the blow. Unfortunately, there it became wedged.

With inertia gone, gravity beckoned and left Mikey swinging inelegantly with one foot jammed above him. He swatted at Rahzar with the crowbar, like he was an oversized piñata, but that did not dissuade the foe from reaching with long claws to grab Mikey around the shell and yank him roughly clear.

Mikey had been vaguely hoping that Rahzar's next action would be to drop him. Unfortunately, the mutant had other plans and took the opportunity to slam the turtle into the floor several times in quick succession.

The crowbar was sent spinning from Mikey's hands and skidding towards the entrance of the alleyway, where it was abruptly stopped by a well-placed foot.

"You're having a fight and you didn't invite me? I thought we were friends!"

Casey grinned lopsidedly, resting his hockey stick cockily across his shoulders.

If he hadn't been busy having his shell smashed into the floor, Mikey would have seriously considered rushing over to give his friend a big sloppy kiss. But, right now, it was going to have to wait.

"Next dance is all yours, dude." Mikey replied, grimacing as Rahzar attempted to crush him.

"Looks like it's time for an odd-man rush!" declared Casey, dropping the wheels underneath his shoes and kicking off to skate into the fray. "GOONGALA!"

With an angry roar Rahzar twisted to face the incoming attack, giving Mikey the opportunity he needed to roll a short distance to safety. There he caught his breath for several moment and shook his head to try and clear it before racing back in to assist Casey.

Fresh into the fight, Casey was doing well and got several good attacks in against the skeletal dog. However it only served to infuriate Rahzar, who then roughly ripped the hockey stick from the boy's hands and snapped it into two.

"Aww, not another one." Casey grumbled.

"No problemo, dude. I got this!" Mikey yelled, diving back for a spinning kick with a backhand blow. However it didn't exactly go to plan, as Rahzar promptly smacked him into a pile of trash with the broken end of the hockey stick.

Casey snorted. "Yeah, I see that."

The cumulative effect of the injuries Mikey had sustained were starting to hamper his actions. He found his vision swimming as he attempted to stagger back to his feet, then dropped dizzily to his knees. He blinked in surprise as he stared back towards the fight. "Whoa! They cloned you both too?"

Rahzar laughed cruelly. "Seeing double?" he mocked, taking a vicious swipe towards Casey.

Casey meanwhile ducked under the blow before reaching back to pull one of the canisters from where they rattled against his back.

"Better than seeing red!" he retorted, hitting Rahzar straight between the eyes with the paint.

The mutant roared in pain and frustration, staggering blindly and hampered by his claw-like hands as he tried to clear his vision.

"Time to bail, dude." Casey declared, flicking back the skates and rushing over to help Mikey back to his feet.

"We can't!" Mikey pointed back at the building. "April's still in there!"

Casey hesitated, glancing between Mikey, Rahzar and the building before shaking his head. "No way. You're about to drop! We get the others, then we come back and get April."

Michelangelo didn't want to admit it, but Casey had a point. Reluctantly, he nodded. Then, with his friend's help, started heading back towards the lair as quickly as he could manage. Which, once they managed to reach a safe distance away from Rahzar, wasn't that quick at all.

"They really did a number on you, huh." Casey commented, taking more of Mikey's weight as they trudged along.

"They've been taking it in turns all night." Mikey complained, sourly. With that, he spent the next few minutes regaling his friend with the story of evening.

"That's harsh, man." Casey sympathised, as they headed down into the sewers. "You think your bros will work together for an April rescue?"

Mikey looked uncertain but replied, "I hope so."

"They'd better." Casey decided. "Or they'll be answering to Casey Jones!"

The two fell into silence as they walked along, allowing them to hear the sounds of conversation as they approached the lair.

"Well?" came Raph's voice.

Leo then asked. "Do you see anything?"

Mikey brightened. "They're talking to each other!" he whispered excitedly to Casey, hurrying forwards to scramble through the turnpikes and into the lair.

Standing in the middle of the living area, Leonardo and Raphael had their shells to him. They appeared to be watching Donatello, who was stood face to face with April and holding her hands. April had her eyes closed and her head nodded forward with a look of concentration. Donnie had been doing the same, but suddenly raised his head to look straight over at Mikey.

"I see him!" he proclaimed.

Leo and Raph spun round.

"Amazing, Donnie." Raph observed, dryly. "We'd never have found him without you."

"Wassup, dawgs?" Mikey greeted, weakly raising a hand. "April, glad you're ok."

April straightened with a smile. "You too."

"Aw, she was here all along." Casey grumbled. "She could should totally have been another damsel for me to rescue!"

"Hey! Who are you calling a damsel?" protested Mikey. "I was winning aga-"

He cut off with a pained whine and dropped to his knees as Casey roughly prodded a bruise on his hip.

"Mikey!" gasped Leo, as all three of the other turtles rushed over to help their injured brother.

"Are you ok?" Raph demanded.

"You need to sit and rest." directed Donnie.

Mikey let his brothers help him over to take a seat, while April hurried off to fetch the first aid kit and an ice-pack. "Yeah, bros." he beamed. "I'm all good! You're being a family again!"

The expressions of the other three all softened affectionately.

"We're always a family, Mikey."

April returned and started working with Donnie and Leo to tend to Mikey's injuries, while the youngest turtle regaled them with his story of what had transpired that night. It wasn't even that embellished, as it didn't seem to need enhancement.

Letting the others work, Raph headed over to Casey. Wordlessly, he touched a fist to the left side of his friend's chest in a heartfelt tap.

Casey smiled. "Yeah, man. I know."


	15. Chapter 15: Beside themselves

**CHAPTER 15**

 **Beside themselves**

Slowly, patiently, Leonardo worked through the kata. From shizen, into ichimonji. Move the weight backwards into doko, then round to hicho. One foot forwards made kosei, then arms crossed for jumonji kihon before leaning into jumonji kumite.

The moves were so intimately familiar that he was able to relax into the routine and allow his mind to wander. As he smoothly lunged into the ihen, his thoughts dwelled on the snippets of conversation he'd overheard at the veterinary clinic between Stockman and Rahzar.

They'd been speaking about using the Kraang technology to copy the thoughts and memories from the turtles into the clones, which was presumably why they'd kidnapped Mikey. There was an implication that they were amassing quite an army of their unethical creatures, which was worrying enough in itself. But if they had succeeded, just what would that mean?

Leo drew his arms together into hira. A genetic copy, with the same thoughts and memories as the one who had originated it. What then would differentiate the clone from the original? If they then became sentient beings, could he really just strike them down without any regard?

He didn't think that Raphael or Donatello had overheard the conversation, and from what he could tell Michelangelo seemed oblivious as well. Leonardo hadn't mentioned it to them, nor did he have any intention of doing so. He knew that they would need to destroy the clones and he couldn't afford to give any of the others a reason to hesitate.

Into hira ichimonji, spreading the arms wide with a slow exhale. Before they could do anything, they needed to find where the clones were being held. Raph was adamant that storming Shredder's so-called palace should be their next action, the moment Mikey was sufficiently recovered to accompany them.

Donnie, fortunately, disagreed and was engrossed with trying to find something from the samples he'd managed to obtain from the latest clone before it's explosive demise. Having set up a temporary lab in the kitchen, he'd been spending most of the last few days with his eye seemingly glued to the microscope that had been rescued from his lab.

Since Donatello was busy with his investigation work, Leo had spent many hours over the past few days trying to get the laboratory cleaned up of the splattered mutagen. He'd mostly been working alone, but with occasional assistance from April and Casey whenever they could spare the time.

With her immunity to the effects of mutagen, April was fine without protective gear. But no-one else was; even Donnie hadn't inherited that particular trait. It had been one of the things he'd tested for and, as he'd explained, it was probably just as well. Otherwise he could have ended up with an immunity to the very thing that had triggered his humanoid form and wound up stuck as a regular turtle forever.

With some scavenging, they'd managed to acquire a hazmat suit for Casey that fitted him well enough. Unfortunately, the one for Leo had needed to be massively oversized for his stature in order to accommodate his shell. That meant the crotch was somewhere around his knees and the arms and legs were rolled back on themselves several times. It made all movements cumbersome and, frankly, made him look completely ridiculous. A fact that the others were quick to point out at every possible opportunity.

At least he got some recompense in that Raph had been landed with the job of Mikey's nursemaid. It was a role he'd initially thrown himself into, but was now beginning to regret as their youngest brother recovered and was starting to take advantage of being waited on hand and foot.

Leo secretly had a bet going with Donnie over how long it would be before Raph finally snapped.

He moved into hoko, then brought his hands together for kongo gassho. He'd finally finished getting everything cleaned up earlier and was relishing being out of the cumbersome clothing and able to move freely.

It also meant that Donatello had finally been able to get back into his lab and use what equipment had survived to further his investigations. A fact that seemed to have paid off, as Leonardo was brought out of his thoughts by his intellectual brother's arrival.

Donnie was clutching his laptop, which hopefully meant he'd got something significant to report.

Halting the kata movements, Leo headed over. "What have you found?"

"Well, you recall I mentioned there were several injection sites on the clone and that the blood sample revealed traces of a rare protein." Donnie reiterated, before launching into a long winded explanation. "So I did some research, and I think the protein acted as a stabiliser for the structural bonding that holds the mutagenic compounds together. As long as it's administered on a regular basis, it seems to prevent the volatile breakdown that we've repeatedly witnessed. However, the shelf life of the protein seems to be short; not only for the live substance but also once it enters the digestive systems before it's broken down and excreted."

Leonardo blinked several times. Individually, he was fairly certain he understood all the words his brother had uttered. But in the combination they'd been used, they made about as much sense as some of Raphael's impromptu rants.

"The clones need regular injections or they go pop." Donatello impatiently summarised.

"Go _pop_?" Leo repeated. "I'm not Mikey, Don!"

Donnie waved a hand impatiently. "Anyway, the protein is tricky to make and the active ingredient doesn't last long. If they've produced the clones their systems indicated, they'll need a nearby supply."

"There's only one factory in the city that produces it. You'll never guess which one." He held out the laptop to show Leo a map, centred on an industrial estate in Chinatown that they already knew was under The Shredder's control. "Look, there are several old warehouses in the compound. I'd bet one of those are where Stockman's holding the clones."

"I'm impressed." Leo commended, examining the map. He was already formulating several infiltration plans based on the locality and the situation, as he currently understood it.

"About time!" Donnie chided. "Anyway, that's not all."

Leonardo looked up.

"Well, I was thinking about how we can safely defeat the clones, given that they explode into mutagen…"

"If you're going to suggest the hazmat suit, forget it. I can barely move in that thing, let alone fight!"

"Actually, I've come up with an enzyme that will digest the protein in such a way that the conversion to mutagen should happen in a controlled manner. It's still a bit messy, but a lot less explosive."

"So, we spray them with the enzyme and instead of exploding they… melt?" Leo replied, trying to make sense of the suggestion.

Donatello shook his head slightly. "Not exactly. The enzyme would need to be consumed."

"Well, that's not impossible…" Leo mused, mulling over various options. "How long will it take to prepare enough?"

"Not long. As long as Mikey doesn't eat the ingredients, I can produce a suitable quantity in a few hours."

Leonardo nodded decisively. "Ok. We'll make our move as soon as he's recovered."

From the other room there came a resounding crash, followed by a squeal of laughter that could only have come from their youngest brother. It was then immediately followed by the thudding sound of heavy running.

Raph's voice floated through as he roared "You… You FAKER! GET BACK HERE!" and thundered after Mikey.

"I think he's recovered." Donnie superfluously stated.

"Yeah." Leo agreed, before grinning. "And it sounds like I win. Enjoy my chores! Two weeks, was it?"

Donnie glowered. "One!"

He then hesitated a moment, before adding. "By the way... Thanks. For cleaning up my lab."

Leo smiled. "No problem."

* * *

The four mutant turtles and their two human allies had so far spent an hour perched atop a nearby building, overlooking the factory and warehouses that Donatello had pinpointed as likely locations for the Shredder's clone plan. From their vantage point, they were well placed to survey the area below.

They'd already spotted enough evidence to support Donnie's theory; the Purple Dragon's had been intermittently sighted patrolling the area. However they hadn't yet seen any of the clones.

The weather was slowly deteriorating and it was getting pretty cold atop the exposed rooftop. It didn't bother Leo particularly, but he could tell that the others were starting to get fed up and impatient of all the waiting.

Raph had already suggested numerous times that they should just go down there and kick in every warehouse door until they found the one they were after. Casey seemed to be thinking along similar lines. At least, for the moment, they were happy enough complaining to one another about the lack of action rather than doing anything about it.

His other two brothers had been more patient, but it wasn't going to last much longer. After several false starts, Donnie had been trying to have a whispered conversation with April. However it was evidently not going the way he'd been intending as Mikey was cutting in every few words and, as far as Leo could tell, trying to suggest some kind of impromptu rooftop flash mob dance.

Five more minutes, Leonardo silently decided. Then they'd go with Raph's plan. Or something similar but different enough that he could claim it as his own.

Fortunately he didn't need to concoct a variant of the plan as, just a few moments later, he spotted Fong crossing an area enclosed with high metal fencing and opening a door to one of the warehouse. Leo leaned closer, peering across the gloom to make out what emerged.

He didn't really need to bother, as it was apparent very quickly as approximately twenty mutant turtles headed to the outside area to seemingly practice fighting. Disturbingly, they were even dressed exactly like their originals, appearing almost indistinguishable in the poor lighting.

"That is freaky." Raph commented, echoing Leo's thoughts.

Mikey grinned. "I think it's awesome!"

"You would."

"Ok, here's the plan…" Leo started. "Casey, you and April head for the front of that warehouse and create some kind of distraction, then vanish."

"No problem." April stated, with a brisk nod.

Leo turned to his brothers. "The rest of us will jump down and infiltrate the clones."

"You want us to pretend to be our own clones?!" challenged Raphael, in disbelief.

Leonardo nodded. "Yes. Once we're inside, we can create an entrance for April and Casey to join us. Then, we take down the clones by feeding them the enzyme."

"No fighting?!" protested Casey.

"Yeah, no fighting. Unless you _want_ them to explode in front of you and get a face full of mutagen."

"I'd pay money to see that." Donnie muttered.

"Has everyone got it?" Leo asked, glancing across the group.

Mikey looked confused. "Got what?"

Raph signed heavily. "Just follow us and keep your mouth shut."

"Got it!"

Leo raised a fist triumphantly into the air and launched into the pre-battle speech he'd spent the last half an hour mentally preparing. "Then, for the preservation of righteous morals, we shall-"

"Save the speech for later, hero boy!" Raph said, jumping onto the railings and disappearing off to get into position.

As he moved the others enthusiastically followed, eager to get off the damp rooftop and begin the infiltration. Before he'd even really gotten started, Leonardo was left presenting his speech to thin air.

"But it was a really good one…" he lamented, before reluctantly moving to follow the other turtles.

They were already crouched atop a stack of two large containers that overlooked the enclosed yard in which the clones were methodically sparring. While waiting for April and Casey's distraction, Leonardo found himself watching the clones.

It was more than a little disconcerting, watching five copies of himself milling around. He found himself able to study his own form from every angle, in a way no mirror could ever reveal. Did he really look like that? He'd always pictured himself taller.

In a way, he was relieved to see there was no spark of intelligence in the clones eyes. They appeared to just be mindlessly following the instructions they'd been given, with no independent thoughts of their own. It made the fact that they would hopefully soon be just piles of goo on the floor a bit easier to stomach.

"We're going to need to pretend to be just like them." Leo murmured to the others.

"Yeah. It's not rocket science, Leo." Raphael groused. "We just gotta look and act completely brainless."

Donnie chipped in, "Wow, something where Mikey's the expert."

He got a pouting scowl in response, but there was no time for any retort before what sounded like a firecracker exploded on the far side of the warehouse.

"And that's our cue…" whispered Leo. "Here we go!"

He swung down to the ground, timing his arrival for when Fong was looking in confusion towards where the sudden noise coming from the other side of the building. Quickly, Leo hurried over to where a group of his own clones were practicing swordplay.

Glancing back he saw his brothers doing the same thing with their own likenesses, until he realised in sudden alarm that he no-longer had any idea which of all the mutant turtles his brothers were. They had merged in so well with their copies that it was next to impossible to differentiate them.

The realisation left his pulse quickening worriedly, but at the same time it gave him some comfort that if he couldn't even tell the clones and his brothers apart then the Purple Dragons had no hope of doing so. As Fong turned back to cast his gaze over all the mutant turtles, he gave no indication that he suspected anything was amiss. Evidently, counting was not his strong point.

For another half an hour they were left outside to practice their combat skills, before Fong summoned all the clones back inside with a short series of commands. Obediently, Leonardo fell into line and started shuffling towards the doorway. That was, until he realised that each clone was receiving an injection as they entered the warehouse. Presumably a dose of the protein Donatello had discovered as needing to be regularly administered.

That wasn't something Leo had accounted for in his plan. Would the protein harm the non-cloned turtles? Quickly, he cast a gaze up and down the line as he tried to identify where the real Donatello was standing. After several indecisive moments, he settled on the likely candidate stood three places behind him.

"Donnie!" he hissed insistently.

The turtle in front of him turned. "What?"

Leo quickly returned to facing forwards in surprise. He'd been sure that Donnie had been a clone!

"Is the protein injection going to cause us a problem?" he whispered.

Donnie shook his head. "No." he replied, before reconsidering. "Not straight away."

"What do you-" Leo started, before cutting off as Fong must have caught the noise and turned towards them.

The two swiftly returned to blank, silent impersonations of the clones as the Purple Dragon approached. For an anxious moment, Leonardo was sure their cover had been blown. But Fong headed past them, walking up and down the line as he seemingly searched for the source of the noise.

When he failed to locate it, he seemed to disregard the sounds as a figment of his imagination and subsequently returned to stand by the doorway. Leo let out a small sigh of relief and saw Donnie do the same.

Further up the queue, Leonardo noticed one of the Raphael's surreptitiously glancing back and seemingly looking for something. Catching his brother's eye, Leo silently mimicked the injection and then gave a thumbs up to try and convey that it was all fine.

Raph gave a scowl, but nodded slightly and turned back to the front. Not a moment too soon, as Leo watched his brother being beckoned forwards to receive his injection before being ushered into the building.

Despite another stealthy glance around, Leo wasn't able to locate where Mikey was standing. Hopefully he'd seen the exchange and knew to keep going with the plan.

Returning his eyes to the front, Leonardo glazed his expression over to mirror the blank look the clones were wearing and stepped forward in turn to receive his own injection.


	16. Chapter 16: Turtle soup

**CHAPTER 16**

 **Turtle soup**

Raphael hated injections. Especially injections administered by Purple Dragons that contained an unknown substance of which the effects had not been established. He'd understood Leonardo's gesticulations to go along with it, but he didn't like it. Not one bit. If this all turned out badly, his brother was never going to hear the end of it.

Ignoring the stinging pain in his arm and putting on his best zombie face, Raph shuffled through to the body of the warehouse in the company of his clones. If they didn't have such gormless expressions, he'd be part of quite the handsome crowd. Of course, it would have been better if he wasn't joining a group of Mikeys. That was a parade of nightmares right there.

The room was set out into various zones. He passed a pile of moth eaten mattresses piled with tatty blankets that were presumably where the clones slept, before heading onwards towards where two long rows of tables were surrounded with mismatched, dilapidated seating.

In turn, each clone was being handed a bowl of indeterminable beige slop then taking a place at the table. There, they worked methodically through consuming the unappetising gruel in their off-putting, perpetual silence. Raphael wordlessly took the bowl he was handed, then obediently took his seat with his clones.

Glancing around, as far as he could count Mikey must be amongst his own clones and was actually doing a good job of blending in. So good that Raph couldn't actually pick him out from the group as they began to wolf down the unappetising meal. It was probably just as well that his brother's stomach seemed to be made of iron.

Where was Leo? Surely there must be more of a plan than just joining the ranks of the clones for free board and lodging. Looking towards where the stragglers were being handed their bowls of mush, Raph caught what must have been the real Donnie subtly giving the meal he was handed a faintly revolted look, before reverting back to a gormless expression.

Behind him, the next turtle in line took the bowl as it was offered and uttered a reflexive, "Thanks."

Raphael smirked slightly. Finally, things were about to get interesting.

He watched as Leonardo, flustered, realised his mistake and tried to salvage the situation.

"I mean… Er…" he stammered, "The one known as the clone of Leonardo is not the one known as Leonardo in this place known as here."

"How is talking like a Kraang going to help?" spluttered Donnie.

"The turtles!" Tsoi exclaimed. "The real turtles!"

"Dorks." Raph muttered, getting back to his feet and flinging his bowl of food at Tsoi. Watching it crash into the guy's head and then coat him in the sticky gruel felt very therapeutic.

He was surprised and initially pleased as his action seemed to trigger all his clones to mimic him and also fling their bowls of slop at Tsoi. Then the plan went downhill, as a bowl and its half-eaten contents hit Raph instead.

"What the-?!" he exclaimed, turning towards the collection of Mikeys who were preparing to mimic the movements of Michelangelo-prime and chuck their food towards the Raphaels.

Raph roared in anger. "MIKEY!"

"Awesome. FOOD FIGHT!" cheered Casey, skating in through the abandoned doorway and snatching a bowl of slop off the serving table.

April followed him in, carrying the box containing the manufactured enzyme.

"Get them!" insisted Fong, moments before being hit in the face by a spoonful of gruel launched by Casey.

Leonardo nimbly dodged as several nearby clones drew their weapons and turned on him. "Take out the Purple Dragons." he directed.

"With pleasure." Raph muttered, racing over to Sid. Picking up a large stock pot, he slammed it down over the human's head and then kicked him into the wall for good measure. With a groan, the gang member slumped unconscious to the ground.

Across the other side of the room, he saw Leo knock down the slop covered Fong while Donnie dealt with an equally messy Tsoi. Really, with Hun absent the Purple Dragons were about as dangerous as Ice-cream Kitty during a heat wave.

"Don't hit the clones yet." Leonardo warned, as he dodged away from several, "We don't want them to explode."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks for the recap. I'd forgotten about that."

"How do we get the enzymes into them?" April asked, hurrying over.

Leo hesitated a moment. "We… Ask nicely?"

"Hey, clones!" he called, jumping onto a chair and clashing his swords together to try and attract their attention.

Silence fell as all the clones hesitated. Falteringly, Leonardo launched into, "Uh… Before we can fight… First, we need to observe the ancient ritual of the, er, traditional pre-fight… Vitamins!"

"Really, Leo?" Raphael snarked, arms folded, "That's the best you can come up with?"

"I'd like to see you do better!"

"There's an ancient ritual of pre-fight vitamins?" Casey whispered to April.

Raph walked over and reached into the box that his brother was holding. Grabbing one of the capsules, he raised it up so the clones could see. Then he threw the pill into his own mouth.

"Raph!" Donatello exclaimed, "Don't-!"

But it was too late, as Raphael had already committed to swallowing the tablet. He then turned with a scowl, "What? You said these were safe! For us."

Donnie grimaced. "That was before we received the protein injections…"

The mimicking plan seemed to work, as the clones surged forward to reach into the box Leo was holding and obediently take an enzyme capsules. Raph moved aside, towards where Donnie was standing. He then fixed his brother with a furious glare.

"You'll be fine." Donatello hastily reassured, as Leonardo finished doling out the enzyme and hopped down off the seat. "Or, at least, mostly fine. Eventually."

Raphael opened his mouth to demand more detail from his scholarly brother, but was cut off from speaking as one of the clones barrelled enthusiastically into him.

"You still wanna fight?" Raph snapped, batting the Mikey away. It seemed that the timeout for the attack of the clones had apparently finished, now that the 'pre-fight ritual' was complete. At least, with the enzyme administered, the hands-off approach was now obsolete.

The one that hit him was lost amongst others that surged forward. But Raphael managed to trip up one of the other Mikey clones, then hit him with a chair for good measure.

"Heh, actually this is kinda fun." he revelled, savouring the opportunity as then turned and punched a Leonardo right in the middle of its self-righteous face.

His target reeled backwards. "Hey! Watch it, Raph!"

"Well, how was I meant to know it was you?" Raph pointed out, ducking away from one of his own clones.

Leo twisted to dodge a blow from a Mikey clone. "Just be careful!" he stated, as he kicked the feet out from a Donatello that was passing next to him.

"Ow!" the turtle complained, as he crashed into the floor. "Leo!"

"Sorry, Don." Leo apologised. "Ok, new plan… Only fight yourself!"

"How does that work for me and Casey?" April asked, as she ducked under a swinging bo staff and then twisted nimbly to kick one of the clones over.

"Maybe if we sing?" Donnie suggested, scrambling back to his feet.

Raph punched a nearby clone of himself. "That's not going to happen!"

Casey skated by, hooking the ankles of a line of clones and dropping them to the ground. "Well, then just keep talking!"

"Speaking of talking…" April started, "Where's Mikey?"

Raph hesitated from attacking and glanced around, his stomach turning. But no, it was fine. From counting earlier he knew that there were five of each Donnie and Leo clones, and four each of the Raph and Mikey clones. A rapid recount revealed five Mikeys in the room, which meant that one of them must be their Mikey.

"Hey, Mikey!" he yelled, "Which one are you?"

"You told him to follow and keep his mouth shut." Donnie reminded, tripping up one of his own clones and then returning to humming merrily as he fought.

Leonardo seemed to have adopted the same tact and even seemed to be trying to hum in harmony with Donatello. The slightly off-key sound was driving Raphael to distraction.

Growling furiously, he snapped at the largest group of Mikey clones, "You can talk now, Mikey!"

There still came no answer, until Raphael roared in anger. At which point, a cheeky voice came from behind him.

"You really couldn't tell which one was me?"

Raph whirled round and smacked his brother across the head.

"Ow!" Mikey whined. "Why are you mad? Being quiet that long was really tough, dude!"

"Besides," he then grinned, "I tried to show you where I was. With my super turtle bro hug attack!"

Raphael's eyes widened. "That was you? YOU'RE the one who restarted this fight?"

The smallest turtle chuckled sheepishly. "I forgot the clones would copy me."

Raph dived to tackle his brother to the ground.

Nearby, Leo stopped humming long enough to call over to Donnie, "How long do we need to keep this up for, Donnie!"

"Not long." came the answer. "Any moment now…"

From the far side of the room, one of the Leonardo clones suddenly melted into a pool of mutagen. It engulfed the box containing the remaining enzyme capsules that, fortunately, were seemingly no longer required.

Donnie grinned. "Can I call it, or what?"

"Get on the tables." Leo called. "Everyone up on the tables! Now! … And bring the Purple Dragons."

With a look of disgust, Raph released Mikey and grabbed the nearby form of. He dragged him up onto the table top, as the clones all started to dissolve. He was followed by Mikey and Leo, who grabbed Fong and Sid respectively. Meanwhile April, Casey and Donnie all ended up on the far table, safely out of the way as the remainder of the clones liquefied.

Raphael gazed down at the expansive pool of mutagen covering the floor, his stomach churning in disgust. "Did you bring the hazmat suit? Looks like this is a job for Marshmalleo."

"Dudes! How are we going to clean all this up?" Mikey asked.

"Easy." replied Leo, with a knowing smile.

Nimbly, he flung a throwing star at the fire alarm button on the wall. The siren began to sound and the sprinkler system activated, sending water showering down over everyone gathered below. Most importantly, it also started to wash the mutagen away.

"Ugh, I'm drenched!" April complained, as she was caught in the impromptu shower. "And this water is freezing!"

"Yep." Casey agreed, admiring the cling of her clothes approvingly.

Donnie shot a glare at Casey, then opened his arms protectively. "I'll shelter you, April."

She willingly moved into the embrace, pressing in close and letting his reptilian body shield her from the worst of the falling water. As Casey glowered at Donatello, the turtle responded by sticking his tongue out childishly.

It didn't take long for the mutagen to clear enough to enable the group to jump down from the tables and head outside. There, the unconscious Purple Dragons were bound and left in a corner of the lot, ready for the police to collect once the emergency services responded to the fire alarm.

"Good job, everyone." lauded Leonardo, admiring their handiwork. "I'd say we're done here!"

"Guess again." came a voice from one of the other warehouses.

Hun stepped out from the shadows into a patch of moonlight that had managed to spill briefly out from between the ominous clouds above. The leader of the Purple Dragons then cracked his knuckles and adjusted his superfluous sunglasses as he readied himself.

Mikey looked around. "Just you?"

The man smirked, as from behind him an unnervingly familiar creature then stepped out from the door of the warehouse. At first glance, it looked a bit like Slash; a tall, broadly built mutant turtle with powerful muscles that hinted at impressive strength. But, there were differences. For a start, it moved with a poised grace that betrayed the nimbleness the creature was capable of and the training it must have received.

"You had to ask." Raphael berated his youngest brother.

"I thought he'd say yes!"

The creature didn't seem to possess any natural weapons beyond what any of the four turtle brothers had. However it was equipped with a variety of armaments that even the most well kitted foot-bot would be jealous of. It was also attired with armour that not only protected the regions not covered by hard carapace, but also provided a spiky hazard for melee attacks.

"Destroy them!" Hun ordered, pointing towards the group.

"That's… That's the hybrid clone they were working on!" Donatello stated in alarm.

"Dude!" Michelangelo suddenly exclaimed. "It really does have Leo's face!"

"Oh hah hah."

"How are we going to take it down?" Donnie asked, worriedly. "We haven't any more enzyme capsules."

"We make it go pop." Leo directed, drawing his swords. "Then get out of the way. Quickly."

"Oh, yeah. Great plan." Donatello grumbled. "I can't see that going wrong at all."

A proper fight, now this was more like it. Raphael stepped forward, bringing his sais eagerly to his hands and readying to rush into battle. But, before he could launch the attack, that squirming feeling in his guts returned with a vengeance. Grimacing, he shudderingly halted.

"I… I don't feel great."

Leo turned to him in concern. "Raph?"

"He looks kinda green…" Mikey offered.

Raphael tried to push through it, paying no heed to the twisting pain and taking another determined step forward to meet to hybrid clone. But it couldn't be ignored. Dropping one sai to the ground with a clatter, he quickly raised a hand to his mouth as he felt bile rising.

"I… I'm gonna hurl!"

Donatello looked on with an awkward combination of sympathy and disgust. "Yeah… That'll be the enzyme reacting with the protein. Trust me, puking is actually better than the alternative…"

"Sit this one out, Raph." ordered Leo. "I'll draw it's attention. Donnie, Mikey, you get round the back and try to flank the, uh…"

"Raphatellonardangelo!"

Donatello turned on Michelangelo. "What kind of stupid name is that?!"

"Flank the Raphatera- Raphatelly- Rapha-" Leo started, gamely trying to pronounce Mikey's name before resorting to, "Just go!"

"What about Hun?"

"Heh heh… He's mine." stated Casey, drawing two baseball bats with a wicked grin.

"April, protect Raph." Leo called, as he raced forward.

"What?!" Raphael protested. "I don't need… Uh… Urggh…"

April patted his shell sympathetically as he retched. She started to lead him to the edge of the concreted area, out of the way of the combat.

"I… I'll get that thing… In a minute…" Raph groaned as he staggered along with her, helplessly watching as his brothers raced forward to face the sinister creature without him.


	17. Chapter 17: Force lightning

**CHAPTER 17**

 **Force lightning**

This was it, the moment of reckoning. The boss fight at the end of the dungeon. Having taken out all the lesser clones, it was now up to the mighty ninja warriors to face the ultimate foe comprised of all their strongest attributes. The battle would be long and arduous, but they would strive with all their might to put an end to the cloning blues once and for all.

Wistfully, Mikey wished that there was some kind of save point that they could use. Preferably with a recovery system to get them all back to full health. It would have been particularly useful in the case of Raph, who was still in the process of throwing up the contents of his stomach and, for the moment, definitely not in a fit state to fight.

The battle stage was set, a concreted expanse outside the warehouses surrounding the chemical factory within the domain of the Purple Dragon gang. With the moon covered by clouds the illumination for their arena was patchy manmade lighting, powered by the substation nestled in one corner.

Overhead, the persistent drizzle that had been dampening the evening had strengthened to become a steady rainfall. Puddles were forming on the ground, adding a layer of treachery to what should have been steady footing across the area. All it needed now was for distant thunder to allude to an approaching storm and the dramatic setting for the climactic encounter would be complete.

On cue, Michelangelo heard the tell-tale rumbles that promised theatrical weather was heading their way. At least, he thought that was what he heard. There was a chance that it might just have been his stomach growling. The half a bowl of clone-fodder slop he'd managed to consume, before throwing the rest at Raphael, had barely made a dent in his insatiable appetite.

Nearby, Casey had enthusiastically launched himself into his ongoing grudge match with Hun. There was a clash of sports equipment, as the battle began between them. But where Casey sometimes struggled against the formidable foe, this time he had help at hand with an ally at his back. After April had ensured Raph was a safe distance away from the fight so he could continue retching in relative safety, she raced over to help her human friend in his battle.

He probably did need the assistance more than the turtles did. Even with one brother down, Mikey was confident that the remaining three would surely be able to handle the giant mutant hybrid clone of themselves. As he moved into position, as Leo had directed, he bent down to retrieve the sai that Raph had dropped and stick it through his belt.

Following the tactics they'd trained for, Michelangelo then held back initially, instinctively spinning his nunchaku as Donatello ran the initial distraction. That would then give Leonardo an opening against the Raphatellonardangelo that he could use to score the first hit, with Mikey placed to follow up.

With moments yet until his participation was called for, Mikey took the time to observe and realised abruptly that the creature was moving in an eerily familiar way. It was almost as if it had been schooled by Master Splinter just as the turtles had.

In fact, right now, it was moving with the confident strength of Raphael and, accordingly, drew a pair of oversized sais from its belt. As Donnie finished his feint, Leo leapt forward with ninjaken swinging. But the creature promptly countered exactly as Mikey knew his most volatile brother would have done. It had the perfect timing that only came from detailed prior knowledge of the attack technique and the formation in use.

One ninjaken was wrenched from Leo's hand and sent skittering across the ground. The other he managed to keep hold of, barely, as he was thrown some distance away and rolled several times before jumping nimbly back to his feet.

With Mikey's move blocked as the creature spun round, Donnie instead raced in and swung to strike the clone across the side with his bo staff. Yet again, Michelangelo saw the creature anticipate the attack and react perfectly. It briefly grabbed the end of the bo staff and used momentum to trip up and then fling the turtle hanging on the other end a short distance.

Donatello crashed into Leonardo, knocking him back to the ground. As they struggled to disentangle themselves from one another, Michelangelo unwillingly took his cue to launch an attack of his own, even though he suspected he knew exactly what would happen. Racing in, he started with a flying kick and then intended to swing round for a double blow.

It didn't work. Not just the second part, but the first part as well. As before, it was like the clone knew or strongly suspected what would happen and was able to react quickly enough to prevent it. In fact, it did exactly the moves that Mikey would have done, if any of his brothers had attacked him in the exact same manoeuvre he'd just performed. Mikey found himself smoothly deflected, then kicked over to end up in the pile with his two brothers.

"It knows all our moves, and our tactics!" Donnie stated in alarm, with the same realisation that Mikey had reached minutes previously.

The turtles extricated themselves and their weapons from one another then quickly scrambled back to their feet. Some distance away, the hybrid clone sheathed the sais and drew two oversized ninjaken.

"Well, then we're just going to need to do something it doesn't know." Leonardo decreed, confidently.

"Like what?"

"I don't know yet! If I knew, then it would already know too. So I need to know something I didn't knew, I mean know, before."

Mikey grinned excitedly. "Dudes! You want moves that no-one could ever predict? I AM YOUR TURTLE!"

His brothers stared at him uncertainly, before sharing a glance with one another.

"Actually, he has a point." Leo conceded.

"You can't be serious, Leo!" Donnie protested, incensed. " _Mikey_ is our attack plan?!"

"Back him up." Leonardo then ordered, much to Donatello's chagrin.

"We are turtle toast…"

But despite his misgivings, Donnie still sprang off to run diversion and draw the attention of the hybrid clone. Leo, more confident, lingered long enough to give his youngest brother an optimistic fist bump before rejoining the fight.

Michelangelo returned the movement and beamed. Sticking his nunchucks back into his belt, for now, he sprinted over to snatch up the ninjaken Leo had been forced to let fall earlier in one hand and brought Raph's sai into the other.

"Oh yeah, time for my sweet ninja moves!" Mikey declared, entering the special battle stance he'd developed during his practice sessions with sensei using this very combination of weapons.

Even Master Splinter had said that he'd never seen anything like it before, and likely never would again. The tone the words were delivered in had been somewhat long suffering, but Mikey had chosen to take it as a complement anyway. After all, it meant the method of attack he'd developed was uniquely his own, impossible to predict or imitate!

Although, admittedly, that was at least partially because it tended to change and evolve on the fly. But hey, that was just how he rolled.

He waited for an opening, watching Donnie tumble out of the way of an attack while Leo dived in from the far side and was then roughly batted away.

"You can't fight like that!" Donatello protested, catching sight of Michelangelo with his unorthodox stance and weapon combination.

Mikey just smirked at him, before spotting an opportunity and charging into the fray.

"BOOYAKASHA RAPHATELLONARDANGELO!" he cheered, suddenly switching from what had looked to be a flying kick and instead sliding under the outstretched blocking arm.

"How can he pronounce that?!" he heard Leo say in mystified admiration from somewhere to the side.

The hybrid clone had not been anticipating that attack to be a feint and was helpless to prevent Mikey from hooking the sai through the belt. With a pivot point in place, he then leapt up onto the creature's shell and used the ninjaken to slice through the leather straps that held the armament belt in place.

A flick of the sai as Mikey sprang clear sent the belt flying, along with most of the weapon options the hybrid clone had access to. They fell to the ground a short distance away and with a kick from Leo slid further out of reach.

"Nice work, Mikey!" Leo called, rapidly returning to duck under a flailing attack before getting a good punch in against the now exposed side of their foe. The carapace absorbed some of the damage, but it still threw the creature briefly off balance.

From the far side Donnie used his bo staff to vault into a position where he could land a kick against the creature's shoulder, causing the hybrid clone to stagger forwards.

Donatello landed neatly with a buoyant smile, as the tide of battle seemed to have changed to their favour. "Ok, I was wrong. Mikey's got the moves!"

"You know it!"

"Oh yeah, we got this." Leo grinned, confidently. "You're going down, Raphar-rara-telly-nar-er…" he then stuttered, the threat sounding rather feeble as he fumbled the designated moniker.

"Mikey, it needs a shorter name!" he demanded, as he lunged in for another blow.

The creature, seemingly infuriated by the pummelling it was receiving, responded by grabbing hold of Leonardo's arm mid-attack. It then then yanked him forward and twisted suddenly to fling the turtle powerfully across the outdoor expanse.

Michelangelo could do nothing but watch in alarm as he saw his brother flying towards where two large shipping containers were stacked one atop the other at the side of the area. The containers were obviously disused, as they were in the process of gently rusting with small holes where the metal had already been eaten away. What remained was covered with years of gang graffiti.

With a panicked cry, Leo retreated into his shell just in time before he crashed straight through one of the weakened corrugated metal sides of the lower vessel. There was a clang as he the bounced about on the inside, before an ominous creak as the vibrations overbalanced the top container.

With a squealing groan, it lurched slightly then plummeted towards the ground. It avoided hitting anyone, but was unfortunately so positioned as to cover the Leo shaped hole that had just been created and block any easy exit that the turtle might wish to make. Assuming he was in any fit state to do so.

"Leo!" Mikey called, worriedly. He was echoed by Donnie yelling the same thing.

"I-I'll get him!" Raph shouted back, staggering towards the containers with one arm across his stomach.

Nimbly dodging as the hybrid clone swung for him, Mikey hurried to stand near his other brother. Everything had briefly been going so well. But in that one moment the tides had turned again, and this time not in their favour.

"Now what?!"

"I, er…" Donatello stammered, quickly casting his eyes around the area as he tried to formulate a plan in Leonardo's absence.

Michelangelo felt like he could see the cogs turning rapidly in his brother's mind, as he took in all the available data and tried to work it into something usable. He never ceased to be impressed at Donnie's intellectual prowess, while at the same time also finding it completely unfathomable. Why would anyone want to think that hard all the time?

Lightning flickered overhead, causing both the turtles to briefly glance upwards at the sky as it was accompanied by a loud crash of thunder.

"We should hit it with lightning!" Mikey declared, inspirationally.

"That's impossible." Donnie chided, skittering aside as the mutant clone swung for him. "There's no way to know where lightning is going to strike. Besides, with so many tall buildings in the area there's virtually no chance of-"

He hesitated, as his eyes alighted on the substation humming a short distance away. "But maybe we don't need lightning. We have electricity right over there!"

"Where?" Mikey asked, confused.

"There!" Donatello insisted, pointing to where he was looking.

Ducking under an attack, Mikey looked over to the fenced off area blankly.

Donnie groaned in frustration. "You see the picture of a man being zapped?"

"With Force lightning?"

He sighed. "Yes, fine, with Force lightning. What do you think that means?"

"Beware of Sith?"

Donatello face palmed.

"Look, just-" he started in exasperation, but never managed to finish the sentence before he was smacked in the head by the hybrid clone.

"Donnie!" Michelangelo yelped, as his brother dropped with a groan to the floor. "You didn't tell me what to do! What do I need to do?!"

But he couldn't linger in the hope of Donatello reviving enough to provide him with the instructions, as he was forced to roll to one side in order to evade being taken down in much the same way.

This was the moment he could have really used the save point, Mikey contemplated unhappily. Or some kind of enchanted elixir that would bring the team back to full health instantly. Or a summon spell that brought an enormous but friendly magical creature to come and fight the battle for them. Yeah, that would be good.

Keeping his eyes in the hybrid clone, he took a wary step backwards as he tried to focus on calculating his next move without his brothers there to guide him. From above, the incessant rain was growing steadily heavier, stinging where it struck and hampering both movements and visibility. Behind the foe, lightning continued to streak across the sky where it was accompanied by rumbles of thunder.

Another sound could also be heard, which was the distant sirens as the emergency services finally approached the vicinity. They were presumably responding to the alarm Leo had triggered inside the warehouse, in order to activate the sprinklers to wash the mutagen away.

"We need to get out of here!" April called, evidently also hearing the sirens. She and Casey were still caught up in the battle with Hun, where the two sides seemed to be evenly matched despite the disparity in numbers.

Over near the containers, Raphael had seemingly curbed his nausea enough to rescue Leonardo. He was awkwardly heaving his brother's unconscious form out of a freshly cut hole at one end of the rusted metal vessel. But this distance, Michelangelo couldn't make out whether or not his eldest brother was all right.

Seemingly tiring of trying to hit the evasive target as Mikey danced indecisively between blows, the hybrid clone turned away and reached out towards Donnie, evidently not satisfied with just rendering the turtle too stunned to move.

Stowing the ninjaken in his belt, Mikey protectively rushed forward with sai and nunchuck. The former he used to hook the foe's arm and prevent the attack, while the latter he used to smack the creature in the face.

"Leave my brother alone!" Michelangelo yelled aggressively, following up his attacks with a roundhouse kick before leaping clear.

Mikey breathed a brief sigh of relief as the Raphatellonardangelo turned back towards him, before yelping in concern as he realised he was being charged. Help came from April, battling nearby, as her tessen fan spun in front of the hybrid clone's face. While it didn't land a successful hit, it caused the creature to flinch back and check the speed at which it was stampeding.

It also gave Mikey the moment of distraction he needed to dive out of strike range and roll around to flank. Leaping back to his feet, he clipped the creature across the back of legs with a heavy blow from the nunchuck and sent the hybrid clone tumbling to its knees.

The sirens were growing louder and in the distance flashing lights could be seen that, this time, weren't related to the storm.

He had to finish this fight, and he had to finish it quickly! Donnie had said to use the substation. But how? Did he have to try and throw the enormous hybrid clone in there? Maybe there was a better way… Sheathing his nunchuck Mikey redrew the ninjaken as an idea suddenly popped into his head.

Ducking aside to avoid an attack, he then suddenly leapt onto the Raphatellonardangelo shell and jammed blade tightly into the into the folds of armour, using Raph's sai to help wedge it into place. The hybrid clone protested angrily and reached back to try and grab hold of and remove its unwanted passenger.

Narrowly dodging, knowing that he only had a few moments left before he would be caught and likely sent flying, Michelangelo drew his beloved kusarigama and wrapped the chain around the hilt of Leonardo's sword.

That was all he had time to do, before the hybrid clone grabbed hold of his ankle and furiously flung the smallest turtle away. Miraculously, Mikey managed to keep hold of the other end of his kusarigama. As he was flying through the air he maintained the wherewithal to fling the bladed end into the middle of the electricity substation.

"Oh yeah!" he yelled triumphantly as his aim proved true. "Accept no imitations... Original ninja turtles are the best!"

There was a crackle as electricity shot out and arced along the chain to reach the embedded ninjaken. The Raphatellonardangelo made its first and only sound of its entire brief existence, as it screamed horribly while convulsing from the electrical charge that was coursing through its body.

A horrible, acrid smell began to fill the air, as Michelangelo somersaulted neatly to land next to where Raphael was standing with an unconscious but clearly alive Leonardo in his arms.

Mikey hadn't expected a flurry of praise from his gruff brother, but he'd been expecting at least a little approval or pleasure that the fight was won. But instead, Raph was staring back towards where the creature was with his eyes wide. Pushing Leo towards Mikey, he started to run. But it was too late, he was too far away.

Reflexively grabbing onto Leo, Mikey turned back to see what Raph was so worried about. He was just in time to see the hybrid clone explode, with Donnie still on the floor nearby.


	18. Chapter 18: My family

**CHAPTER 18**

 **My family**

Stars danced across Donatello's vision as he slid to the ground and lay in a daze amongst the puddles. His focus slopped this way and that, minutes passing in a blink as he drifted in and out of consciousness for an indeterminable period of time.

Part of him would have liked nothing more than to succumb to the welcoming blackness that kept stretching out encouragingly to embrace him. But he could still distantly hear the clashes of combat and the erratic sound of Michelangelo's voice as he fought alone.

With a groan, Donnie slowly pushed himself back to sitting and pressed a hand against his head. He'd been the unfortunate recipient of a powerful blow from the hybrid clone, which had left one part of his face throbbing intently. He could already feel his eyelid growing puffy on that side and he quickly discovered that grimacing didn't help.

Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Donnie tried to clear his hazy sight enough to take proper stock of the situation. Mikey needed his help, that hybrid clone was a foe unlike anything they'd faced before. Just before he'd been hit, he knew he'd had a plan to defeat it. But those moments had been knocked loose from his memories and he couldn't find where they'd gone.

Despite the ringing in his ears and the increasing wail of approaching sirens, the sudden sound of Mikey's gleeful exaltation was hard to miss. Were they winning? With one final groan, Donatello shakily forced himself to look up and properly assess the situation.

He winced involuntarily as he raised his head just in time to hear the hybrid clone shriek and witness as it was the brief and unwilling recipient of 33,000 volts of electricity. After several seconds there was a loud bang and a plume of smoke, as the short circuit blew the fuses and cut the supply. But it was too late for the creature, even for those few moments such a huge electric shock could only have one outcome.

Somehow, miraculously, Michelangelo had managed to carry out the plan that Donnie had never finished describing and been able to win the fight. The blackened form of the clone created from their combined genetics dropped to the ground and lay there unmoving.

Or was it unmoving? As Donnie's vision continued to clear, he noticed that the creature seemed to be twitching. Initially he just put it down to the final muscle tremors, but then realised with sudden horror that it wasn't.

It was a bubbling sensation beneath the hybrid clone's skin, just as Raph had described. The fact that he was close enough to see it meant that he was too close. Far too close.

"Oh no…."

With no time to flee as it exploded right in front of him, Donatello's instinctive reaction was to disappear into his shell. Even as he did, he knew that it was futile. Even if the mutagen only hit his carapace, it would still trigger a secondary mutation.

He felt a sudden connection, as the force of it pushed him against the ground. He was hit. The sickly smell of burnt flesh and mutagen was all around him, the scent seeping through to torture his senses even with his head tucked down.

What was going to happen to him, Donnie wondered fearfully. The best he could hope for was that he'd maintain his mind but become some horrible skeletal version of his former mutation, as had happened to Rahzar. The worst… Well, he could see himself spending a lot more time in silent contemplation with Timothy, as they sat together in matching jars.

That was assuming his brothers weren't forced to destroy him, lest he destroy them first. The idea that he might mutate beyond all recognition, turning violent on them to the point where they had no choice but to take him down, was a horrific image that burned through his thoughts with increasing fervour.

The impression grew stronger in his mind. It was a feeling like when he'd been engulfed by Speed Demon. He was still dimly aware of himself, but unable to act upon his rational thoughts. Like something of nightmares, he envisaged himself emerging as a twisted and deformed husk of the one they had called brother. All the intelligence that had once been there was gone, as had any remnant of humanity.

The overwhelming love he felt for each of them ripped away, replaced with an insatiable destructive fury that could not be restrained. The concrete would be stained red with their blood. None would remain to return to Splinter, to tell him that he had lost his family all over again.

But even there, the devastation could not be curbed. Casey's broken body would fall into the pile with his brothers. Then, all that remained was April. Reflected in her enchanting eyes was his own grotesque form. Her screams of absolute terror rang out, as she saw death gazing back upon her from the one that had once been her mutant.

He could hear her voice, calling to him, imploring him. But he was lost, he could not be saved, there was nothing…

"I've got you!"

Who had him?

"I've got you, Donnie!"

April?

"Donnie, are you ok?! Are you ok, Donnie?"

Miraculously, the tormenting nightmare began to fade. He focused on the beautiful voice, losing himself to it before it guided him to recovery. For several panicked moments he felt trapped within a claustrophobic darkness, until he realised that he was still hidden within his own shell.

Slowly, cautiously, he emerged.

Crouched over him with a knee pressed against his plastron, her arms were holding her coat spread wide as a protective barrier. Lightning dramatically illuminated her worried face, as April stood resolutely while large globs of mutagen oozed over her back and dribbled down onto the ground behind her. The relief was obvious on her face as Donatello finally revealed himself to be unaffected by any further mutation.

"Thank goodness…" she gasped. "Be careful! Don't move. We'll find a way to get you out of this mess."

Donatello just stared, riveted by her gaze and lost in his own exoneration. She'd saved him. April had saved him, acting as a shield against the explosion of mutagen. He wasn't a horrific monstrosity, doomed to destruction. He was still himself. He was safe.

"April…" he started, his voice wavering.

But he didn't get any further, as there was a sudden clang as a container door was thrown down over the mutagen a short leap away. It had been ripped off and manhandled by Raphael and Casey, who were both now gesturing frantically.

"Come on!" Raph urged, before turning back to help Mikey with Leo.

"Yeah, dude. We gotta go!" Casey insisted. "The cops are gonna be here any moment!"

With a quick swipe of his eyes, which Donnie hoped the others would assume was just the rainwater, he scrambled to his feet before carefully jumping onto the metal and running along it. At the end, he was far enough away from the epicentre to leap the distance to an area clear from the mutagenic explosion.

April followed him, benefiting from her immunity as she could ran through the mutagen with impunity. However she was then forced to keep a safe distance from the others as they fled the scene of the battle, lest any of the messy substance upon her should touch them.

Glancing briefly back as emergency vehicles arrived on the scene, Donatello realised that Hun and the other Purple Dragons were no longer there. Doubtless they had taken opportunity to escape again. But, right now, he didn't really care. He just felt giddy with the euphoric knowledge that he had cheated a fate worse than death.

It took a considerable amount of time to get back to the lair. While Michelangelo was relatively unharmed, all of the others were sporting an array of hampering injuries and conditions.

Leonardo, to everyone's relief, came around a short time after their initial escape. He was bruised and battered, with a new scratch running down his shell from where it had caught on a sharp edge of metal, but seemed to have escaped without significant harm. After resting for a few minutes, during which he was filled in with an animated update of everything he'd missed, he was able to move under his own strength.

Casey was limping slightly and April kept putting a hand to her shoulder, while Raphael was evidently still struggling with the nauseating effects of the protein and enzyme combination. Though it seemed to be fading, as Donatello knew it would after the initial consequence. For the others, who had only received the protein part of the combination, the only likely effect would be a day of feeling a bit bloated and lethargic.

For Donnie, the giddy feeling from before persisted long enough for him to realise that it was probably only partially triggered by euphoria and mostly related to the blow he'd taken. After he obliviously ran into the second lamp post, Mikey took it upon himself to act as a guide and make sure his path was clear of any obstacles.

Ninja stealth was forgotten, as they openly traversed the back streets of New York. Fortunately, given the early hour of the morning, the sidewalks were mercifully abandoned and their journey passed uneventfully.

After ensuring both Casey and April got home safely, with April gushing excitedly about taking a long hot bath as she was dropped off, the turtles headed down into the familiar sewer network. Reaching the lair, Splinter was there to welcome his battle wearied sons back with open arms before tending to their wounds.

Donatello dropped into a dreamless sleep soon after, spending the remainder of the night blissfully unaware of his father sitting by his side and watching over him in case the concussion worsened.

It didn't, but it was well into the afternoon before Donnie awoke. A wash later and he almost felt back to his usual self. Albeit with an impressive array of tender bruising marring one side of his face, mottling the green skin with a rainbow of colours.

"That is impressive." agreed April, having arrived at the lair with a donation of pizza during the middle of the afternoon.

While his brothers were busy devouring the food offering, Donatello had opted instead to take the opportunity to speak with her. April had a few bruises herself, but didn't seem too worse for wear following the battle of the previous day.

"My shoulder is pretty sore." she confessed. "But I think it'll be fine. I spoke to Casey earlier and he's gonna be ok as well."

Donnie nodded. "I'm glad." he said, genuinely.

"April…" he then continued, scratching the back of his neck and shuffling his feet. "I just… I wanted… Um. Thanks. Thanks for saving me."

"If that mutagen had hit me," he continued, his voice catching slightly as the memory of his nightmarish delirium was reawakened, "then I…"

April reached out to gently pat his arm. "It's fine, Donnie." she replied, kindly.

"You guys have saved me so many times, it's only natural for me to do the same for you!" she continued, before smiling widely. "Especially you."

She moved in to give the astonished turtle a warm hug. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. I know it's genetics we share, rather than parents, but… Well, you're the closest thing to a brother I'm ever likely to get!"

"So there's no way I'm going to let something happen to you, little bro!"

" _Little_?" Donnie protested, amicably. "I'm taller than you!"

"I'm older." April reminded, as she stepped back.

He couldn't really argue that one, so just shrugged agreeably. "I concede the point."

A smile then slowly crept across his face. The genuine, toothy type that was typically reserved for a response to the hijinks of his brothers, rather than the awkward, blasé smile he usually gave to April in his efforts to impress her.

"You're my sister." he affirmed, testing the term out. For the first time, the words and the meaning behind them felt right. He'd never experienced having a sister before, beyond the occasional strange dream reality. Now he truly had a sister, and she was April. His beloved April.

"Yep! And big sisters are fiercely protective." April pointed out, responding with an open smile of her own.

A warmth spread through Donatello. The love he felt for her was still there but just as Leo had described, it was different. A familial affection, like that which he felt for his brothers and father. He still felt just as devoted to her as ever, but rather than being tarnished with possessive desire, her safety and happiness was paramount.

But, even more than that, the shared a bond unlike any other. It went beyond the family connection. As Donatello smiled at April and she smiled back at him, he realised he could read more from her expression than he ought to be able to. The telepathy that linked them gave him a unique window into her mind that no other would ever be able to emulate.

"Oi, Donnie!" Raphael called, breaking the moment as he twisted round from where he was sprawled to look at them. "If you don't hurry it up, we're gonna eat your share of the pizza."

Michelangelo stuffed another slice into his mouth, chewing enthusiastically and then spraying crumbs over the others as he spoke. "Iz nuuuummy!"

"Mikey!" Leonardo chided, in disgust.

Donatello glanced towards his brothers. But before he had a chance to respond, April stepped over to stand resolutely at the edge of the raised area above the living space.

"You had better not!" she chided firmly, hands on her hips. "I brought that for all of you, including Donnie! Give me his share, or there will be trouble."

Startled, the three turtles shared a glance before humbly yielding to April. Mikey meekly stepped over to pass her the remainder of the meal in one of the pizza boxes, which she took from him with a playful smirk.

Behind her, Donnie grinned. "I could get used to having a big sister."


	19. Epilogue: Revenge

**EPILOGUE**

 **Revenge**

Leonardo sprawled back onto the cushions. He ached all over thanks to his impromptu flight into a shipping container, but he knew the wounds would heal. Their enemies were still out there, but they had successfully foiled their latest evil scheme and the city, for the moment, was safe.

They had earned a few days to rest and recover, before the training would commence for the battle he knew was looming on the horizon. But that wasn't a fight for today. For today, he could be satisfied with a job well done. Ok it hadn't been perfect, but he gave it a 9.95.

"Looks like Donnie's finally got his head straight." Raphael commented, as he lazily watched the turtle heading for his laboratory with April. The two were having an animated discussion about scientific gibberish.

"I guess we just weren't hitting him hard enough." he then joked. "I'll have to remember that it's gotta be a real wallop to sink in."

"Yeah, try not to shake any more of his screws loose." Leo smirked, cumbersomely rolling over to rest on his other side, so he could see his brother.

Raph grinned, then sat up slightly. "Mikeeeey…" he called, his voice changing to uncharacteristic wheedling.

The youngest turtle hurried over from the pinball game.

"Get me a drink." implored Raphael.

Mikey frowned uncertainly. "Dude, why should I get you a drink?"

Raphael moaned and wrapped his arms around himself. "Ohh… My stomach…"

"Ok, ok! I'll get you a drink!"

As Michelangelo hurried off, Leonardo rolled his eyes.

"How long are you planning on keeping that up?" he asked.

"I dunno yet." Raph said, reclining and putting his hands behind his head. "At least a week."

Leo chuckled slightly. From his vantage point, he saw Mikey returning from the kitchen a few minutes later with arms laden. Raph, engrossed in a magazine, remained blissfully oblivious of the youngest turtle's approach.

Pressing his lips together in an effort not to give the game away by laughing, Leonardo watched in amused anticipation as Michelangelo crept closer to Raphael and positioned himself just out of sight behind his currently ignorant brother.

"Here's your drink, bro!" Mikey suddenly announced, as in one swift movement he dropped the armful of water balloons right onto Raph's head.

Leo burst into laughter, as Raph shrieked in surprise.

" **MIKEY!** "


End file.
